Ben Vautier

Ben Vautier - born 1935 in Naples, mother Irish, father Swiss, raised in Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Switzerland and finally Nice/France - developed his preference for art and philosophy, as also his tremendous urge to communicate and carry out crazy ideas at the age of 16. His shop (Laboratoire 32) in the rue Tondutti 32 was already in 1959 a centre for freaky young people and artists. Ben made street actions, theatre, music, mail art, declared himself as the artwork, signed anything that get in his way - holes, chickens, cars -. The ideas of the incipient global Fluxus movement in 1962 were him just right for him. In 1962 participated in the "Festival of Misfits" in London, where he exhibited himself. Thereby his allegiance to Fluxus was sealed. With Robert Filliou he represented the French part of the movement in the following years. Today, he is one of the most important personalities of the contemporary French art.

Since 1958 Ben had more than 300 single and group exhibitions in major museums and galleries, including in 1982 Castelli in NYC, Documenta and biennales around the world. In 1979, he was a guest of the DAAD in Berlin. The last major retrospective exhibitions were held in the Museum of Marseille in 1995 and at the Kunstmuseum Solothurn in 1996. In May 1997 Ben had an exhibition in Japan.

His multifaceted oeuvre is known only to a few in its scope. The frontier crossing to other media, such as literature, music, film, theatre and their inclusion into thinking and work are bases of his diverse, subtle humorous work, as the policy and dealing with ethnic groups.

That Ben Vautier is not a light fare, although it does seem like this at first glance, is well aware to everybody who studies his work more closely. Ben attacks and provokes, he questions current affairs, culture, art, politics, life and living together with other population groups, himself - his EGO. All things that affect the human being in his innate attributes are important to him. He collects, paints, writes, puts his fingers into the wounds of society. Like no other, Ben is informed about politics, current events, new techniques, art and culture, which is reflected in his work as editor of a newspaper that appears regularly in Nice. Ben Vautier has an extensive, almost complete archive of Fluxus, film and theatre.

His works are represented in many public collections, such as the Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Centre Pasquart, Biel; Kolumba Kunstmuseum, Köln; Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz; Landesmuseum Mainz; MAMAC Nice, Nizza; Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver; Museo Vostell Malpartida, Malpartida de Cáceres; Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde; Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen; Muzeum Sztuki ,Lodz; Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart.