Ben
Vautier

Ben Vautier (b. 1935 in Naples) was a fellow of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program (BKP) in 1978. In keeping with his previous practice, Vautier was involved in many different activities during his stay in West Berlin. After collaborating with the Nouveaux Réalistes Arman, Yves Klein, and Martial Raysse between 1958 and 1962, operating a record store called Magasin as an artwork in Nice, and running an art gallery, Vautier joined the Fluxus movement in 1962 and took part in various Fluxus festivals and concerts every year. Spoken and written communication became his primary medium. Vautier is best known for his text-based paintings and panels, always signed “Ben,” that present provocative, handwritten questions and statements on art, society, and the artist’s own ego. On the evening of May 1, 1971, he gave a Fluxus concert, organized by Galerie René Block, at the Forum-Theater in Berlin and showed “7 Ideen von Ben” at Block’s gallery in the afternoon; for the 100 days of documenta 5 in 1972 Vautier took up residence in his own “Thinking Room” in the section “Individual Mythologies: Self-presentation – Performances – Activities – Changes”; it was in this space that the legendary “Boxing Match for Direct Democracy” between Joseph Beuys and his student Abraham David Christian took place on October 8.

At the beginning of his period of residency, with assistance from the Artists-in-Berlin Program, Vautier secured a teaching job at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, where he gave lectures on “The art war between Matisse and Duchamp today” and “French New Realism versus American Pop Art.” During his stay in the city, Vautier published seven multipage letters, each entitled A Letter from Berlin: in these handwritten or typeset A4 sheets with illustrations, he describes in laconic, poetic language his everyday life in the city, his encounters and impressions of exhibitions he has seen, as well as his fears, ideas, and his projects. In April 1979, together with Endre Tót and Dorothy Iannone, Vautier took part in the Freie Berliner Kunstausstellung. In May 1979, he and Mike Steiner organized a “Hotel Room Event” that took place over two days in a room of Hotel Steiner that was equipped with a video camera and monitor, and in which artists and spectators were invited to participate. In October 1979, having concluded his residency, Vautier presented his Berlin Inventory at the daadgalerie; comprised of 250 pictures, objects, written works, videos, and other items, it not only summed up his activities in Berlin but was also a retrospective inventory of his artistic life. In conjunction with this, a box was published that contained a leaflet and eight illustrated booklets (entitled Significations, Théorie, Autocritique, etc.) that featured photographic images, texts, and reproductions of works. On November 25, the film performance Trying to Be Myself or It’s Raining in Berlin was screened by the Artists-in-Berlin Program at the Arsenal cinema. In 1983 the artist’s book Fluxus and friends going out for a drive was published by Rainer Verlag, Berlin, with support from the Artists-in-Berlin Program. The volume comprises photographs of forty-four small figures, each of which has been assigned by Vautier to someone in his artistic circle.

Text: Eva Scharrer

Translation: Jacqueline Todd