Mark Bloch was born to American parents in Würzburg , Germany , in 1956 where his father was based as soldier of the US Army . Bloch grew up in Cleveland and Akron , Ohio . Exposure in his youth to Robert Wyatt , the Fugs , Frank Zappa and Yoko Ono led to an interest in the fringes of art . Coincidentally , Bloch later referred to his mentor Ray Johnson as the " fringe of the fringe . " Bloch attended Kent State University , where he was influenced by faculty members Adrian DeWitt , a Jungian who taught in the Romance Languages department , Robert Schimmel and Robert Culley , another Jungian , in the School of Art and visiting artists Joan Jonas from New York and Iimura Takahiko from Japan , both videographers . Bloch attended Kent in the aftermath of the 1970 Kent State shootings and was present during protests of a gymnasium that was built on the site of that incident . Following his work with Jonas , and switching his focus from art to TV , Bloch received his B.A. degree in Broadcasting and was the creator of a " punk " performance art movement called The New Irreverence and other avant garde provocations . Bloch was part of the M'bwebwe group that began in Kent , Ohio in 1974
Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
Mark Bloch