The noted Nice-based Fluxus writer and artist Ben Vautier sends out a message, regularly by email, to friends and others. But the one that came the other day was unusual. Rather than simply conveying news of cultural and artistic events that personally interest him, it was something of a cris de coeur. Translated into English from his typically direct French prose, which he versifies, it began this way:
because I don't know what to do anymore. My head doesn't work anymore My thoughts are jumping around I can't focus them What to do? What can I do to make Annie tell me, "I love you"? What to do to be Fluxus? CULTURE WAR A possible thermonuclear war? the news on TV I said to myself they are crazy these egos they go straight to the catastrophe is it possible or not? they will not be not be crazy enough to bomb Nice Paris Moscow ok but not Nice and then why not? if the ego of the people matches the ego of their leaders they will bomb everything like children at the beach playing with their sand castle . . . This is from the French original: car je ne sais plus quoi faire. Ma tête ne marche plus Mes pensées sautillent Je n’arrive pas à les fixer Que faire ? Que faire pour qu’Annie me dise «Je t’aime»? Que faire pour être Fluxus ? CULTURE GUERRE Une guerre thermonucléaire possible ? les nouvelles à la télé je me suis dit ils sont fous ces egos ils vont droit vers la catastrophe est-ce possible ou pas ? ils ne seront quand même pas assez fous pour bombarder Nice Paris Moscou d’accord mais pas Nice et puis pourquoi pas ? s’il y a l’ego des peuples avec l’ego de leurs chefs ils bombarderont tout comme des enfants à la plage jouant avec leur château de sable . . .
Yes thats abt it
yes, it is. I don’t know if you get Ben’s emails. I know you read French, but for those who don’t, here is the email in its entirety, roughly translated into English, if they care to read it:
Hello
This newsletter is called
” WHAT TO DO ? »
because I don’t know what to do anymore.
My head doesn’t work anymore
My thoughts are racing
I can’t fix them
What to do ?
What to do so that Annie
tell me “I love you”?
What to do to be Fluxus?
PS:
as my newsletters are long
I advise you to read them
on the big screen or to print them
HERE ARE MY CHAPTER HEADERS
CULTURE CULTURE
NICE CULTURE
BEN ON BEN
ETHNIC THEORY
RECEIVED AND READ
WHAT TO DO ?
Before Sunday
I have to decide which newsletter
I will put in the urn
and tell you so that you
do like me
or the contrary
that said if we leave
of the equation
“no art without ego”
“no politics without ego”
“no people without their ego”
we are faced with choosing
to comfort the ego of France
between Macron’s ego
and Marine’s ego
SO
after a long time
hesitated and drank two pastis
I decided to go vote!
So do like me
CULTURE CULTURE
CULTURE
The humankind
You can buy it with compliments
His ego needs compliments
tell him
That he is awesome
That she is awesome
And everything is fine
WAR CULTURE
A possible thermonuclear war?
the news on tv
I said to myself
they are crazy these egos
they are headed for disaster
is it possible or not?
they won’t be
not crazy enough to
bomb Nice
Paris Moscow okay
but not Nice
and then why not?
if there is peoples ego
with the ego of their leaders
they will bomb everything
like children at the beach
Playing with their sand castle
CULTURE
Doodling Expo
in Rome
Villa Medici
It’s money
“total art 1964”
“Scribbles of Others”
that said i like it a lot
CULTURE
Secret Report 223 fgh223hhh
Everything is fine
in the best of worlds
They are killing each other
to survive
the atomic weapon
the problem is that it exists
and that it is operational
CULTURE
In London in Paris in Moscow
there are bunkers
Filled with electronic brains
plugged into batteries
who wait
who are waiting for what?
does it begin?
CULTURE
I just meet people
who know everything
All about Ukraine
All about Putin
all on me
CULTURE
It’s the ego
Who is responsible
human ego
what humans?
all humans
CULTURE
The war is back
in Europe
we hear that he
A single bell
CULTURE
I suggest that the repetition
words such as
War crimes
Massacre
horror
be codified
Why ?
because in the name of
freedom of press
we should be able to have
a right of reply
we should be able to ask ourselves
true or not true?
we must be able
have the other story
we should be able to change the channel
CULTURE
I’m watching tv
and I think
should be able to file a complaint
for brainwashing
CULTURE
This morning a whole bunch of ants
super smart
which date back more than a hundred
million years
went around my coffee machine
CULTURE
I don’t like artists
But, like Harald Szeeman,
I say of them that they are more
funny as butchers
and still it’s not sure
MAIL CULTURE
Dear Biden
Dear Putin
Dear Macron
Dear Johnson
I put myself in your place
with your ego
and I offer you
a Fluxus exhibition
PEACE is Fluxus
CULTURE ELECTIONS
I would have liked a surprise:
Mélenchon in the second round
Then maybe I would have voted
Macron
CULTURE AND DEATH
humans
they all end up dying
the stones
it lasts longer
some of the beach pebbles
of Nice are 3 million years old
CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
Important question
who of the two
prevents the other from speaking his language
Turkish or Kurdish
Russian or Ukrainian
French or Breton
CULTURE AND LIFE
An old lady said
Please stop this war
i want to go back home
in my kitchen
I don’t care who is right or wrong
the media make me want
to go to sleep
FLUXUS CULTURE
Fluxus in Blois
Ghoulish should
propose a Fluxus meeting
on the subject
“Is art hiding in the ego? »
CULTURE – THE WORLD IS CHANGING
and if in twenty years
France cannot
doing otherwise
than to send troops
to quell this revolution
of Occitans who
ask for independence
from Occitania
CULTURAL ISSUE
It’s a question of individuals
Putin, Biden, Macron, Johnson
caught in a gear of peoples
the Russian people
the Ukrainian people
the Anglo-Saxon people
the French people
ETC
NICE CULTURE
NICE CULTURE
There is too much art
Artists should be taught
to “do nothing”
A school of art
to learn to “do nothing”
(I will propose to Villa Arson
FLUXUS courses to teach them
to “do nothing”
NICE CULTURE
Caroline Rivalan at Eva
Text 2 of 10
Text too long
A story of
female martyrs
Catherine Machi
can write
but not summarize
so
for a lazy person like me
too long
In regards to
Rivalan owes me
a piece from
the Vuitton bag
of his grandmother
with a motor in it
who moves on his own
ANNIE SAID TO ME:
I liked the exhibition
and the text of Machi.
I recommend reading the text
before seeing the exhibition
The keys are inside.
I liked the pictures in
broken glasses
in reflection of the suffering endured
by the “well-groomed” women
by Charcot.
(Anne)
—-
I did “practice”
on site outside
With a bunch of women
around me
NICE CULTURE
theater stories
the Russians are bombing
mariupol theater
and I who want
perform one last Fluxus concert
in the theater of Nice before
its demolition
or even why not during?
NICE CULTURE
I wanted to chat with
Gerald’s architect friend
Yann Son
to relaunch
in case of nuclear conflict
in the building market
my shelter house project
anti atomic Snail 1978
imagined with Guy Rottier
and create with it
fallout shelters
kit with shower
removable
NICE CULTURE
It doesn’t look like it but
Brothel Film Productions
bld de Cessole
this is his 40th film
on USB key
NICE CULTURE
Looking at his father’s collection
After being told
“Damn me too
I know how to make art »
Karen Orsona Emile Orsona’s daughter
started painting
AND IT’S NOT BAD
NICE CULTURE ART
LIBERTY EQUALITY FRATERNITY
I think I already have
talked about in one of my
latest newsletters
I still believe
But I am more
more skeptical
NICE CULTURE ART
we are all happy to see OTOM
come back from jail
Congratulations to Robert Roux
for fighting so hard for him.
BEN ON BEN
BEN PARANO
We have become
all too prisoners
from our computer
from our laptop
BEN ON BEN
Mea culpa
I hide my game
I hide my ideas
I play a triple game
BEN ON BEN – POEM
“WHAT ANNOYS ME”
What bothers me
is that when
I go to the toilet, I like it
stay there for half an hour
What bothers me
it’s that i don’t like to throw away
What bothers me
it’s the canvases
of spiders
What bothers me
is that
I gained three kilos
BEN ON BEN
Giancarlo Politi from flash art
It seems that Giancarlo Politi said
nice things about me
Thank you
BEN ON BEN: I WOULD LOVE (POEM)
I would like
make a series of photos
naked women
and to start Annie naked
I would like
rap and
say it all slowly
I would like
drink a pastis
I would like etc.
BEN PARANO SUITE
Wetransfer
do not work
On my computer
Besides, I feel that
my computer is under control
but from whom
Russians Ukrainians
of the CIA of the DST
or family?
BEN FLUXUS IN GENOA
Dear Catarina Gualco
I would like to make a sculpture of you
Carrara marble
completely naked holding a sign
“Fluxus not dead”
and install it in a square in Genoa
where all the cars pass
BEN ON BEN
Everyone
wait for my death
it’s normal
people die around 85
WELL FAMILY
My daughter Eva
a real complainer
the genius of survival
and will sell Ben
to the last dictators
Alive after the fourth
world War
BEN ON BEN
I have to plan
the chapter
from my book
” I think ”
Chapter 1 the ego
Chapter 2 the new in art
Chapter 3 the limits of life
BEN ON BEN
Should I be happy to be
“Well thinker who doubts”
Or should I replace it
By a merchant Ben
“little jerk
who authenticates shit
after another”
BEN ON BEN
My sperm is for sale
1000 euros per bag
I do this
to have peace of mind
and save mankind
My cum
do you say it’s art
it contains 4445vh
BEN ON BEN
The world as it is
science
genetic
plants
germs
wind
words
and if we scratch
we come across ego
the horrible ego non-ego anti ego
BEN ON BEN
I like to read emails
of people
Women and men
who write to me
that they love me
Please continue
BEN ON BEN
I don’t believe I am
who i guess i am
nor the one I don’t suppose to be
nor the one we suppose
I’m not
BEN ON BEN
Ego told me this morning
Ben “you better shut up”
BEN ON BEN
sorry all
There are days
I’m brain sick
maybe Alzheimer’s
maybe “too much genius”
maybe the pastis
BEN ON BEN
The problem
when writing a book
it’s what we imagine
that others will read to you
Nope
no one can read anymore
egos have shrunk
and the books
serve more than
excuse to pass
on TV
BEN ON BEN
Help
Am I changing my mind
and to love
a whole bunch of artist creations
that I considered
before super DRAW
BEN ON BEN
I remember George Brecht
to whom I said one day
“you don’t create enough
of works »
and who told me
” it’s not necessary ”
BEN ON BEN
I would like to scroll
a hundred of my photos
on Facebook
BEN ON BEN
I dreamed last night that
Annie was a “Mata Hari”
who slept naked
with the enemy
to pry him
info
BEN ON BEN
What my editor Favre
do not know
is that for years
i wrote porn
light porn
just for me
to decongest
sex and ego
BEN ON BEN
Let’s do a check in
I’m pissed off
I was not wrong
to vote Mélenchon
In the first round
but sunday
i will vote xxx
although
in foreign policy
I prefer xxx?
the vote is secret, right?
Anna is right
i only talk about me
So too bad
I go there all
BEN TO MILAN – LETTER TO GINO
Dear gino
Fluxus is a farce
who takes himself for philosophy
or philosophy
who hides behind a joke
Dear Gino
I’m wondering
on the limits
of NO EGO
Brecht exhibited chairs
of everyday life
Everyday life
Today
display guns
machine guns, drones
everyday life
authenticate corpses
Placed on the side of the roads
Dear Gino
as a work of Fluxus Art
a pipeline that brings the
oil from Libya to Sicily
GINO
I propose you as a Fluxus exhibition
to exhibit side by side
starvation of some
in Sudan
and other people’s yachts
in Saint Tropez
GINO
I propose to you
as a Fluxus performance
a Harem at La Mudima with
10 women in sexy jumpsuits
and me asleep naked
dreaming in a big bed
GINO
I have to apologize but
I dream of coming to Milan
do and redo
Fluxus
But in the morning
I don’t even have the energy anymore
to climb the stairs
so i stay in bed and i think
WHAT TO DO IN MILAN?
a group exhibition
falitos artists
paranoid artists
from Nice ?
BEN A BLOIS
Blois is a mess
I have an exhibition Ben on September 24
The title of my exhibition in Blois
in the pavilion
I HAVE TOPS
AND STOCKINGS (BEN)
Why this title
Because it’s true that
In my head
“I have ups and downs”
In the pavilion
There will be (EXPECTED) on the ceiling
hanging objects
not only Ben
bring me an amazing object
to hang
on the ground there will be a swimming pool
and inflatables
BLOIS FLUXUS (IDEA)
what to do ?
Fluxus in Blois
invite Abbé Pierre to come
settle
and sell everything in the pavilion
BEN A BLOIS
Blois is a city
which hosts the major symposium
and encounter with thought
“THE APPOINTMENTS OF HISTORY”
Who has never invited Fluxus
to give his opinion
on the limits of art history?
Or on the limits of the ego
there could have been
Flynt’s political point of view
of Maciunas, of Cage etc etc
BEN IN LONDON
At the CARDI gallery
My exhibition in London I saw
the photos therefore it exists
she’s coming back soon
with a beautiful canvas
“space for thought”
BEN IN VALLAURIS
I am ashamed
ceramic i don’t know
only do cocks
As soon as I have soft earth
Between hands
i make a dick
BEN IN VALLAURIS
It’s progressing
we did a series
photos with French Fernandez
of me sitting with Picasso
Sitting on a chair in the Grévin museum
BEN IN VALLAURIS
What to do for the catalog
my drawings ideas
for ceramic?
One more thing on my list
” to do ”
BEN IN VALLAURIS (REDITED?)
I would like to exhibit
a white tub with
on the edge
a series of statuettes
naked women
the bathtub
must return from Blois
and naked women
Annie will lend them to me
(perhaps)
BEN CERAMIST
I realized on Saturday with
Annie and Jean-Guy
20 news
ceramic pieces
completely failed
at Ribero in Vallauris
BEN IN AUSTRIA
My exhibition at Spoerri
Organized by Barbara
I saw the pictures
the exhibition is superb
I like the room
hanging objects
that said
they must have all
a text in German
hanging below
BEN AT PULT ZURICH
I don’t really feel this exhibition
Another merchant
Who takes himself for more
artist than the artist
but he has a beautiful wife
and beautiful children
BEN IN MEXICO
I made a canvas for Mexico
“Nada”
and another
“the dead does not exist”
with skulls in a suitcase
BEN IN MEXICO (POEM)
Landed Tuesday in Mexico City
a black car was waiting for me
(an armored Bentley)
a woman with a high neckline
as in the series “novellas”
smiled at me
and told me
don’t worry
Mr Ben
your ego in mexico
is indestructible
everything will be alright
Everything is planned
nuclear war
will only clean
the surplus of humans
we can immediately
start from scratch
MEXICO CITY
is indestructible
in a situation of perpetual survival
like a huge worm
Alive
that turns into the night
spider with 150 legs
And anyway
The humankind
even if it were to disappear
with tequila
everything will reconnect
We’ll never find you
Mexico is so big
your cum is already
at auction
Tusk wants to buy it
etc. (12 pages)
BORDEL FILM PRODUCTION
132 bd de CESSOLE in NICE
ARNAUD MAGUET PROPOSES A
great family film festival
first prize 500 euros
duration 15 minutes each film
bring to us or send to
ego@ben-vautier.com
IMPORTANT BEN WRITER
I am writing three books
A BOOK ON THE EGO AND THE PEOPLES
this book is important
because it has a specific purpose
Analyze dissect the relationship
ego and people
In international politics
I already made a first chapter
which you can read in
my previous newsletter
A BOOK OF POETRY
Words put end to end that
I call poetry
Some recovered in
my newsletters
Other crazier
A SCIENCE FICTION BOOK
the end of the human species
ETC
BEN WRITER
There are two publishers
that I love
Real press
(Owned by aliens
came to save the earth)
in international politics
and Favre editions
in Lausanne WHO DEFEND ME
TOOTH AND NAIL
ETHNIC THEORY
ETHNICITY AND EGO THEORY CONTINUED
Ego proof
Annie is my proof
for my ego theory
she owns
lowest common denominator
ego
enough for that
to hear him say
his key phrase “it’s mine”
for an ashtray, a plate
or any statuette
Annie’s “It’s Mine”
this is indisputable proof
of the existence of the ego
and so that the next
thermonuclear war
can’t be avoided
Putin says it’s mine
Johnson says it’s mine
Macron says it’s mine
Annie says it’s mine
EUROPE
is a word
yes but who is in charge
France or Germany
USA or Russia?
a world of wolves?
ANGUISH
The struggle between good and evil
Leads us to war
Nuclear
What should be done ?
not being right
stop knowing everything
backtrack
ANGUISH
Occitania sleeps
but what would power do
central french
if Occitania woke up?
Language and territory issue
i don’t want to be funny
BUT lucid
….
LET’S TALK ABOUT OTHERS
RECEIVED AND READ
RECEIVED AND READ BY LAURENT CHABOT
– Say dad the war is
like in the movies ?
– Yes my darling, it’s like in the cinema!
– And when it’s in black and white?
– Red is black!
Laurent Chabot
1987 2022
Paris
The Lugar No. 141
About the death of Géli Grande a letter from Jean Pierre Alari (among others)
“we met the same mentors: Maurice Pepin, Jean Jacques Verdoux, Jacques Ressaire and especially François Fontan, who soon convinced us that Occitania was a nation, that it was not France and that she was destined to become free. It only depended on us conscious Occitans wherever we were born because Occitania does not exclude it includes……..
Your remarkable journey made you our first Occitan ambassador to Israel in 1982, fascinated as you were by the rebirth of a language considered almost dead, Hebrew. You thought with us: if the Hebrews could do it, why not us for Occitan.
RECEIVED AND READ FROM JMB
What an idiot this Biden
I transmit all the more willingly
that today, after having
inflicted so much suffering on the Venezuelan nation, the US administration is asking Venezuela to supply it with oil.
Through the sordid game of sanctions, they -the USA- hoped that the people, suffering from shortages of food and medicine, would “turn” against the power in place. They have used the most vile means against this country and others -Cuba in the lead-
The petty attitude of our usual media does not deserve our attention.
As for our Western “democracies”, quick to recognize this sad and disreputable character J. Guaido, they follow the “big brother”.
SIGN
jmb
RECEIVED BUT NOT READ
“the French drama”
by Edouard Valdman
i will try to read it
I walked through it
and I wonder
if he wrote it
Usually there is a lot
more confusing there it is clear.
RECEIVED AND READ FROM
jemi.bayart@wanadoo.fr
WHO WRITES TO ME
Imagine that the flagship of the US fleet is sunk off the coast of the country…
1 / no doubt that this declared “incident” and reported “victory” via the spokesman of the Ukrainian army, would be qualified as any other, with regard to the US army.
2/ Would the US Authorities (Power) keep a “cool head”, which is or seems to be the case with the Russian dictatorship…
Possible presence of a Western submarine in the Black Sea..?
RECEIVED AND READ BY JACQUES DRIEU
We see the “We should”, “We must”,
“We should have”
VOTE ETC
Bloom in mild spring in continuous hail.
The “saviors of France”, the messiahs, are legion.
We are reassured. Long live the election!
JACQUES DRIEU
That’s it that’s all.
Well
It is foolish not to think so whether in Nice or Eden, New York City or Belgrade.
yes. ripe.for bombing. aaaargh.
ive just posted Ben’s entire email in the reply above..