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Robert Filliou (17 January 1926 – 2 December 1987) was a French artist associated with
Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...
, who produced works as a filmmaker, "action poet," sculptor, and happenings maestro.


Life

In 1943, Filliou became a member of the
French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...
. After the war in 1947, he travelled to the United States where he worked as a laborer for
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...
in
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while gaining a master's degree in economics. In 1951, he took dual French-American nationality and worked as a United Nations adviser and was sent to Korea for three years where he met his first wife Joanna. In 1955, his son Bruce was born. He lived in Egypt, Spain, Denmark, Canada, and France. Filliou met his second wife, Marianne Staffels, in Denmark. Filliou died on 2 December 1987 in a monastery in
Les Eyzies Les Eyzies (; oc, Las Aisiás) is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It was established on 1 January 2019 by merger of the former communes of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil (the seat), Manaurie and ...
, France.


Career

In 1960, Filliou designed his first visual work, ''Le Collage de l'immortelle mort du monde'' (Collage of the Immortal Death of the World), a transcription of a random theater play comparable to a chessboard where individual experiences are expressed. Filliou first proposed "Art's Birthday" in 1963. He suggested that 1,000,000 years ago, there was no art. But one day, on January 17 to be precise, Art was born. Filliou says it happened when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. He also proposed a public holiday to celebrate the presence of art in our lives. Art's Birthday was first publicly celebrated in 1973 in Aachen (i.e., Aix-la-Chapelle), Germany and at the same time in Paris, France. In 1971, Filliou created ''la République géniale'' (the Republic of Genius) where people enter its territory to develop their genius rather than their talent and research is no longer the privileged domain of the person who knows, but of the person who does not know. In his work ''Le Petit Robert Filliou'', Filliou defined the principles of Poetic Economics and its scale of values. This work served as the script for a ''Super 8'' film that he made in 1972 with Bob Guiny. In 1974, Filliou produced ''Recherche sur l'origine'', a work made of cloth 90 meters long and 3 meters high where spectators could walk around inside. Video works by Filliou include: 14 Songs and 1 Riddle (1977, document of a performance), And So on, End So Soon: Done 3 times (1977), Porta Filliou (1977), Telepathic Music Nø7 - The Principle of Equivalence Carried to a Series of 5 (1977), Teaching and Learning as Performings Arts, Part 2, Video (1979). Filliou also produced video works at Vehicule in Montréal, and an obscure work done in the basement of the Pompidou. A large number of editions and multiples were as important to Filliou as the 'unique' works. In 1970 Filliou produced his 'multi-book' called ''Teaching and Learning as Performing Arts'', it covers a great amount of the artist’s radical ideas on participatory art making and teaching. Filliou worked together with artists such as
Emmett Williams Emmett Williams (4 April 1925 – 14 February 2007) was an American poet and visual artist. He was married to British visual artist Ann Noël. Williams was born in Greenville, South Carolina, grew up in Virginia, and lived in Europe from 1 ...
and George Brecht. In 1982, Filliou received the first Schwitters prize of the city of Hanover. Among the many artists who cherished Robert Filliou's work was
Maurizio Nannucci Maurizio Nannucci (born 1939, in Florence, Italy) is an Italian contemporary artist. Lives and works in Florence and South Baden, Germany. Nannucci's work includes: photography, video, neon installations, sound installation, artist's books, and ed ...
, who actually published him as editor and owner of an avant-garde publishing house. In 1977, Filliou moved to Canada and continued to work with video. Later, with his wife Marianne Staffels, Filliou withdrew for 3 years 3 months and 3 days to a Buddhist center in
Les Eyzies Les Eyzies (; oc, Las Aisiás) is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It was established on 1 January 2019 by merger of the former communes of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil (the seat), Manaurie and ...
, France. Underscoring Filliou's work is an interest in what defines and constitutes an artwork. A trained political scientist, Filliou was greatly inspired by the work of the feminist and utopian communist philosopher
Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (;; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical ...
, especially his concept of 'attractive passions' that championed the concept of work as pleasure. Play and joy occupy crucial roles for Filliou, who believed art making was part of a permanent, universal and endless process deeply embedded everyday life.


Works

This is an incomplete list of video works that were produced in Canada (Arton's in Calgary and the Western Front in Vancouver) *''Porta Filliou'' (1977) (Arton's) *''14 Songs and 1 Riddle'' (1977) (a performance at the Western Front with the Four Horsemen and other poets) *''And So on, End So Soon : Done 3 times'' (1977) (Western Front) *''Telepathic Music Nø7 - The Principle of Equivalence Carried to a Series of 5'' (1977) (Western Front) *''Teaching and Learning as Performings Arts, Part 2, Video University'' (1979) (Western Front) * Project for Sky-Writing (planche n°1)


External links


Example of Filliou poetryRobert Filliou profile
at New Media Encyclopedia
Art's Birthday, the Eternal Network"Imitating the Sound of Birds"
audio art by Robert Filliou, 1979, on Ubuweb
Robert Filliou links at artpool


References

Books *Robert Filliou, From Political to Poetical Economy, 1996, Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, Vancouver, 96 pgs, Sharla Sava, Hank Bull, Scott Watson, Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Filliou, Robert Fluxus 1926 births 1987 deaths People from Gard French contemporary artists