Alison Knowles, a pioneering artist of the Fluxus movement, died at age 92 in New York on October 29. Her gallery, James Fuentes, announced her passing but did not specify a cause. Knowles was best known for works like *Make a Salad* (1962) and *The Identical Lunch*, which used everyday materials and simple text-based instructions to create participatory art. Her most famous piece, *Make a Salad*, consists only of its title as a directive, allowing performers to interpret it freely; it has been staged at venues from Art Basel to Tate Modern. Knowles was a key figure in Fluxus, a movement formalized in 1963 by George Maciunas that rejected traditional art in favor of performance and accessible materials.
Knowles's death marks the loss of a major Fluxus artist whose work challenged the boundaries between art and daily life. Her event scores democratized art-making, showing that anyone could create art with ordinary objects and actions. This legacy remains influential, as her pieces continue to be performed in museums and homes worldwide. Her career also highlighted the role of women in the male-dominated Fluxus movement, as she used domestic skills like cooking to subvert expectations and assert her artistic voice.