Natacha Lesueur
François Paris

BEN (Ben Vautier)

Ben, pseudonym of Benjamin Vautier, born on July 18, 1935 in Naples in Italy, is a French artist of Swiss origin.

He became known to the public at the end of the 1960s, notably through his "writings" in various media and forms. Part of the post-modern artistic avant-garde, Ben is one of the main founders of the Fluxus group and close to Lettrism. He is an artist known for his performances, installations and writings.

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In this way, universes as distant from the artistic field as ethnism, ego or truth have entered his work. Ben enjoys an incredible popularity thanks to his "writings" which combine impertinence and accuracy of purpose.

Ben, whose real name is Benjamin Vautier, is a French artist of Swiss origin, born on July 18, 1935, in Naples (Italy), of an Irish and Occitan mother, and a French-speaking Swiss father. He is the grandson of Marc Louis Benjamin Vautier, a nineteenth-century Swiss painter. He lived his first five years in Naples. After the declaration of the Second World War in 1939, Ben and his mother travelled extensively: Switzerland, Turkey, Egypt, Italy... to finally settle in Nice in 1949. He studied at the Imperial Park School and at the Stanislas College boarding school. His mother finds him a job at the bookstore Le Nain bleu as an errand boy, and then buys him a stationery store. At the end of the 1950s, he sold it to open a small store, transforming its facade by accumulating a lot of objects and in which he sold second-hand records.
His store quickly became a place for meetings and exhibitions where the main members of what would become the École de Nice met: César, Arman, Martial Raysse, etc. Close to Yves Klein and seduced by the New Realism, he is convinced that "art must be new and bring a shock". In 1955, he discovered the shape of the banana and made a series of drawings. This series marks the beginning of his graphic research. In 1959, he begins his "living sculptures": he signs people in the street, his friends, and even his family. In 1965, he signed his own daughter, Eva Cunégonde, then three months old. In the early 1960s, several artists attempted to appropriate the world as a work of art. Ben will sign anything he finds: "holes, mystery boxes, kicks, God, chickens, etc.", linking art and life, explaining that everything is art and everything is possible in art. He joined the Fluxus movement in October 1962, following a meeting with George Maciunas in London. Between 1960 and 1963, he developed the notion of appropriation, of everything being art and everything possible in art. He then began his "Tas" series, piling up dirt and garbage on lots and signing them. In 1965, in his store, he created a three by three meter gallery in the mezzanine: "Ben doubts everything". He exhibited Martial Raysse, Albert Chubac, Daniel Biga, Marcel Alocco, Bernar Venet, Serge Maccaferri, Serge III, Sarkis, Robert Filliou, Christian Boltanski, etc. In 1972, at the request of Harald Szeemann, he participated in Documenta V, where he met Robert Filliou, Marcel Broodthaers, Giuseppe Chiari and Joseph Beuys, among others. In 1977, the collective exhibition "A propos de Nice" inaugurating the Centre Georges Pompidou was a sort of Parisian recognition of the research carried out and matured outside the capital by the École de Nice. In the preface to the catalog, Pontus Hulten wrote: "Contemporary art would not have had the same history without the activities and encounters that took place in the Nice region. He entrusts the preparation of the event to Ben. At the beginning of the 1980s, on his return from a year spent in Berlin at the DAAD, thanks to a grant, he met young artists: Salomé, Luciano Castelli, Helmut Middendorf and the members of the German Violent Painting. On his return to Nice, he organized with Marc Sanchez an exhibition-exchange between what he called the French Figuration Libre and young German painters. Robert Combas and Hervé Di Rosa are exhibited in his house in Saint Pancrace, and François Boisrond and Rémi Blanchard, among others, are exhibited at La galerie de la Marine in Nice. Very involved in the contemporary scene, he has always supported young artists and gives his point of view on all current events, whether cultural, political, anthropological or artistic, in his regular and prolix newsletters. He lives and works since 1975 on the heights of Saint-Pancrace, a hill in Nice. Ben's work can be found in some of the world's most important private and public collections, including MoMA in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig in Vienna, the MUHKA in Antwerp, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Museum of Solothurn, the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, the Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain in Nice, the M.A.C. in Marseille, and the M.A.C. in Lyon. Married to Annie Baricalla since 1964, he has two children, Eva Cunégonde and François Malabar.

Inscribing himself in the post-Duchamp context, and influenced by John Cage, George Maciunas, Dada and Isidore Isou, asking the question "What to do after Duchamp?", Ben chooses the whole world as his workshop. From 1963 to 1967, Ben wrote ten conceptual films. The first one was a declaration-posters stuck on the walls of Nice and Cannes at the time of the Cannes Film Festival.

Writing: His first word painting seems to be "Il faut manger. You have to sleep" from 1953, a simple affirmation of life. However, this simplicity conveys a strong concept: Ben produces an art of the idea, well before the beginning of conceptual art as defined in most specialized books. At the time, Ben was looking for new artistic forms to talk about art and the art world. He then developed through his writings numerous and varied themes (ego, doubt, death, sex, the new, money...). The sentences Ben writes can be truths, comments (on the world, current events), scenarios, invectives (to the public, to the art world), observations... Suddenly appearing in the viewer's field of vision, they bring a smile to the face and often give food for thought.
The signature: He starts to sign in 1958: paintings, people, photos. Ben then thought that if art is only about signature, then why not make a painting with just his own signature. Working with the concepts of self, ego and artist identity, Ben, "seems to be saying that since, to the public, art is synonymous with the artist's signature, the more visible it is, the more the public will want that work. {...} At the same time, Ben speaks to the ego/self and the importance of self-reference in art, the exploration of the self and the ego - both subjectively and as a subject." His manifesto "Moi Ben je signe" in 1960 shows the radical nature of his approach.
Gestures / Actions: Down to earth, Ben's gestures are close to George Brecht's "events". They are also called "shares". His first gestures date back to 1960, theorized in what he calls "appropriations". At first poorly documented, they are then photographed and titled, on a support most often black, with a brief description. These gestures show small, a priori banal, daily, unspectacular actions that Ben puts forward, in a Fluxus spirit.
The performances "Life never stops" is one of Ben's phrases. Playing on the codes of happenings and performances developed in the United States in the 1950s (Black Mountain College, Allan Kaprow), Ben mixes life and art from the 1960s to produce performances called "Vomir", "Hurler", or "Dire la vérité", which he realizes near his store in rue Tonduti de l'Escarène or in the streets of Nice, warning the public or not.

In 2010 Ben creates in Nice, in the center of the Liberation district, the "Espace à débattre ". A place that has come to life through many events.

 

Three years later Ben offered this place to his daughter Eva who set up the Eva Vautier Gallery. It produces numerous exhibitions, performances, debates, bringing together citizens from all walks of life, contributing to the defense of these artists and contemporary art and creating a real dynamic contributing to give a new breath to the local artistic life.

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Selection of works

House of Ben, 1970)

Ben's Newbie Bazart, 2002

Installation

400 x 550 x 550 cm

All is art, 1961

Oil on wood panel

Signed and dated lower right

33,5 x 162 cm

Personal exhibitions

1960 Ben exhibits Rien et Tout, Laboratoire 32, Nice

1966 La Cédille qui Sourit, Villefranche, retrospective exhibition

1970 Quelques idées et gestes de Ben, Galerie de La Salle, Vence

1970 Tout et Rien, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris

1970 Exhibition, Galerie Yelow, Brussels

1971 Ecritures de 58 à 66, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, Solo exhibition

1972 Gestes, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris/Milan

1972 Exhibition, Lia Rumma Gallery, Naples

1972 Actions and gestures, I.C.C., Antwerp

1973 La déconstruction, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris

1973 Art = Ben, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

1974 Exhibition, Neue gallery, Aix la Chapelle

1974 Exhibition, Galerie Yelow Now, Liège

1975 Exhibition, Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich

1975 Exhibition, Gibson Gallery, New York

1975 Trying to be natural, Incontri Internazionali d'Arte, Roma

1975 Exhibition, Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris

1976 Exhibition, Kunstwerein, Bremen

1976 Exhibition, Galerie de La Salle, Saint Paul

1977 L'art c'est les autres, Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris

1979 Exhibition, DAAD, Berlin

1980 Exhibition, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris

1980 Exhibition, Galerie Marika Malacorda, Geneva

1980 Exhibition, Musée d'art comptemporain, Montreal

1981 Exhibition, Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint Paul

1981 Ben libre et fou, Musée d'Art et d'Industrie, Saint Etienne

1982 Exhibition, Galerie Castelli Graphiks, New York

1982 The Falklands, Galerie Unimédia, Genoa

1983 Les portraits, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris

1983 les écritures, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris

1983 boîtes et idées, Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris

1985 Tout Ben, G.A.C. à la Marine, Nice

1985 Exhibition, Stadt Gallery, Erlangen

1986 Exhibition, Salla Parpalo, Valencia

1986 Banco, Galerie Pierre Huber, Geneva

1986 Exhibition, Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint Paul de Vence

1986 Proust, Galerie Shuppenhauer, Essen (Germany)

1986 Cirque Culturel, Galerie Unimédia, Genoa

1986 Exhibition, FRAC Pas de Calais

1986 Exhibition, Emily Harvey Gallery, New York

1987 Les Miroirs, Camomille Gallery, Brussels

1987 Acquisitions exhibition, FRAC Calais

1987 Exhibition, conference and debate, Musée de Valence

1987 Exhibition, Céret Museum, Céret

1987 Ben de A à Z, Labège Innopole, Toulouse

1987 Exhibition, M.U.K.H.A., Antwerp

1988 Exhibition, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris

1988 4 different exhibitions in 1 month, Galerie Catherine Issert

1988 Exhibition with edition Jungle de l'Art, C.C.C., Tours

1988 Exhibition, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris

1988 4 different exhibitions in 1 month, Galerie Catherine Issert

1988 Exhibition with edition Jungle de l'Art, C.C.C., Tours

1991 Une histoire de cul, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris

1991 Je doute donc je suis, Frac Orléans (sculpture for Descartes)

1991 No art without detail, Galerie Malacorda, Geneva

1991 Exhibition, Mudima Foundation, Milan

1991 7 ans de bonheur, Camomille Gallery, Brussels

1991 Exhibition, Emily Harvey Gallery, New York

1991 Le Forum des Questions de Ben, Centre Pompidou

1991 Je sais j'en fais toujours trop, Galerie Marianne et Pierre Nahon, Paris

1992 J'ai plus de place à la maison, Galerie Le Chanjour, Nice

1992 Basta, Galerie La Marge, Ajaccio

1992 L'arte e sempre altrove, Bugno and Samuelli Gallery, Venice

1992 Exhibition, Galerie d'Art Contemporain, Saint Ravy Demangel, Montpellier

1992 Il faut se méfier des mots, Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint Paul

1992 I dont want to do art I want.., Galerie Shupenhauer, Cologne, Solo exhibition

1992 Exhibition, Centre d'Art et de Plaisanterie, Montbéliard

1992 La Suisse n'existe pas, Galerie Rosalp, Verbier, Switzerland

1993 Je suis vivant je suis à Nice, M.A.M.A.C., Nice

1993 I don't know how to paint, Galerie Guy Pieters, Knokke Zoute

1994 A bas la culture, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris

1995 Ben, Pour ou Contre, Retrospective M.A.C., Marseille

1996 Exhibition, Solothurn Museum, Switzerland

1999 Life and Death, Galerie Charlotte Moser, Geneva

2000 Exhibition, Galerie 1900-2000 show Fiac, Paris

2000 La pagaille gagne du terrain, Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris

2001 Je cherche la vérité, M.A.M.A.C., Nice

2001 Ist das nicht wichtig, Schwerin Museum, Germany

2002 J'aurais aimé être un cactus, Galerie C. Gualco, Genoa

2002 Solo exhibition, National Museum of contemporary art, Korea, Seoul

2002 La chambre du philosophe, Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris

2002 Tout est musique, Galerie Kahn, Strasbourg

2003 Mon psy et moi, Galerie Charlotte Moser, Geneva, Solo exhibition

2003 Je suis en guerre, Galerie Rive Gauche, Strouk Paris

2003 Ben biz'art bazart, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris

2003 Difficile d'être un autre, Centre d'Arts Plastiques, Saint Fons

2004 Le monde change, Arsenal, Metz

2004 La partie cachée de l'Iceberg, Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint paul

2005 L'art est mort vive l'art, Studio Marco Fioretti, Bergamo

2005 Bientôt on ne pourra plus arrêter la machine, Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris

2005 Exhibition, Musée Chagall, Nice

2005 Je suis un sex maniac, Galerie Storme, Lille

2006 Io dubito sempre, Galerie Soave, Alessandria

2006 Les limites de la photo, André Villers Museum, Mougins

2006 Je me noie, Galerie Kahn, Ile de Ré

2006 Je suis nul en céramique, Pottery Museum, Vallauris

2006 Les autres, Galerie Marlborough, Monaco

2007 Tutto e competizione, JZ art trading, Milano

2007 je n'arrive pas à m'arrêter, Galerie Guy Pieters, Knokke

2007 Tutto è ego, Studio d'Arte Fioretti, Bergamo

2008 Gegen kunst, Galerie Schuppenhauer, koln

2008 Quien es Ben?, Retrospective Musee Vostel, Malpartida

2009 Ils se sont tous suicidés, Galerie Templon, Paris

2009 La Baule privilège, Galerie Marcel Billy, La Baule

2010 Strip Tease intégral, Retrospective, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Lyon

2010 L'art contemporain me fait rire, Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris

2010 Takes art as it comes, Galerie Shuppenhauer, Cologne

2010 J'ai encore quelque chose à dire, Galerie Les Tournesols, Saint Etienne

2010 Paniquez pas, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Brussels

2010 100% EN OCCITAN, Galerie Sollertis, Toulouse

2011 Pas de rose sans épines, Galerie Rive Gauche, Paris, Marcel Strouk

2011 Et après ça, Musée de Louviers, Louviers

2011 Ben Vautier, ART BORES ME, Vicky David Gallery, New York

2012 Etre, Château de Malbrouck, Manderen, Moselle

2012 La liberté de ..., Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint Paul

2012 Je ne suis pas fou, Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris

2013 Le trou noir de l'ego, Médiathèque François Mitterrand, Argentan (Onfrey)

2013 Un autre Ben que ..., Galerie Helenbeck, Nice

2014 La théorie de l'ego, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris

2014 Life is a game, Galerie Laurent Strouk, Paris

    Have you acquired a work by Ben Vautier? If you wish to obtain a certificate of authenticity for this work, please follow the instructions below:

    1. Provide two good quality photographs of the work (one front and one back) and a description of the work via the form below:
    2. Pay the sum of 400 € after receiving the photos. Payment can be made by check, wire transfer or via the Internet.

    Application form for a certificate of authenticity :

    You can pay for the certificate of authenticity by purchasing the virtual object below:

    Laboratoire 32 Magasin de Ben, 1959-1973, Nice © Ben Vautier
    Laboratoire 32 Magasin de Ben, 1959-1973, Nice © Ben Vautier
    Ben Vautier
    BEN ©EV

    Ben, pseudonym of Benjamin Vautier, born on July 18, 1935 in Naples in Italy, is a French artist of Swiss origin.

    He became known to the public at the end of the 1960s, notably through his “writings” in various media and forms. Part of the post-modern artistic avant-garde, Ben is one of the main founders of the Fluxus group and close to Lettrism. He is an artist known for his performances, installations and writings.

    In this way, universes as distant from the artistic field as ethnism, ego or truth have entered his work. Ben enjoys an incredible popularity thanks to his “writings” which combine impertinence and accuracy of purpose.
    Ben, whose real name is Benjamin Vautier, is a French artist of Swiss origin, born on July 18, 1935, in Naples (Italy), of an Irish and Occitan mother, and a French-speaking Swiss father. He is the grandson of Marc Louis Benjamin Vautier, a nineteenth-century Swiss painter. He lived his first five years in Naples. After the declaration of the Second World War in 1939, Ben and his mother travelled extensively: Switzerland, Turkey, Egypt, Italy… to finally settle in Nice in 1949. He studied at the Imperial Park School and at the Stanislas College boarding school. His mother finds him a job at the bookstore Le Nain bleu as an errand boy, and then buys him a stationery store. At the end of the 1950s, he sold it to open a small store, transforming its facade by accumulating a lot of objects and in which he sold second-hand records.
    His store quickly became a place for meetings and exhibitions where the main members of what would become the École de Nice met: César, Arman, Martial Raysse, etc. Close to Yves Klein and seduced by the New Realism, he is convinced that “art must be new and bring a shock”. In 1955, he discovered the shape of the banana and made a series of drawings. This series marks the beginning of his graphic research. In 1959, he begins his “living sculptures”: he signs people in the street, his friends, and even his family. In 1965, he signed his own daughter, Eva Cunégonde, then three months old. In the early 1960s, several artists attempted to appropriate the world as a work of art. Ben will sign anything he finds: “holes, mystery boxes, kicks, God, chickens, etc.”, linking art and life, explaining that everything is art and everything is possible in art. He joined the Fluxus movement in October 1962, following a meeting with George Maciunas in London. Between 1960 and 1963, he developed the notion of appropriation, of everything being art and everything possible in art. He then began his “Tas” series, piling up dirt and garbage on lots and signing them. In 1965, in his store, he created a three by three meter gallery in the mezzanine: “Ben doubts everything”. He exhibited Martial Raysse, Albert Chubac, Daniel Biga, Marcel Alocco, Bernar Venet, Serge Maccaferri, Serge III, Sarkis, Robert Filliou, Christian Boltanski, etc. In 1972, at the request of Harald Szeemann, he participated in Documenta V, where he met Robert Filliou, Marcel Broodthaers, Giuseppe Chiari and Joseph Beuys, among others. In 1977, the collective exhibition “A propos de Nice” inaugurating the Centre Georges Pompidou was a kind of Parisian recognition of the research carried out and matured outside the capital, by the School of Nice. In the preface to the catalog, Pontus Hulten wrote: “Contemporary art would not have had the same history without the activities and encounters that took place in the Nice region. He entrusts the preparation of the event to Ben. At the beginning of the 1980s, on his return from a year spent in Berlin at the DAAD, thanks to a grant, he met young artists: Salomé, Luciano Castelli, Helmut Middendorf and the members of the German Violent Painting. On his return to Nice, he organized with Marc Sanchez an exhibition-exchange between what he called the French Figuration Libre and young German painters. Robert Combas and Hervé Di Rosa are exhibited in his house in Saint Pancrace, and François Boisrond and Rémi Blanchard, among others, are exhibited at La galerie de la Marine in Nice. Very involved in the contemporary scene, he has always supported young artists and gives his point of view on all current events, whether cultural, political, anthropological or artistic, in his regular and prolix newsletters. He lives and works since 1975 on the heights of Saint-Pancrace, a hill in Nice. Ben’s work can be found in some of the world’s most important private and public collections, including MoMA in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig in Vienna, the MUHKA in Antwerp, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Museum of Solothurn, the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris, the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain in Nice, the M.A.C. in Marseille, and the M.A.C. in Lyon. Married to Annie Baricalla since 1964, he has two children, Eva Cunégonde and François Malabar.

    Inscribing himself in the post-Duchamp context, and influenced by John Cage, George Maciunas, Dada and Isidore Isou, asking the question “What to do after Duchamp?”, Ben chooses the whole world as his workshop. From 1963 to 1967, Ben wrote ten conceptual films. The first one was a declaration-posters stuck on the walls of Nice and Cannes at the time of the Cannes Film Festival.

    Writing: His first word painting seems to be “Il faut manger. You have to sleep” from 1953, a simple affirmation of life. However, this simplicity conveys a strong concept: Ben produces an art of the idea, well before the beginning of conceptual art as defined in most specialized books. At the time, Ben was looking for new artistic forms to talk about art and the art world. He then developed through his writings numerous and varied themes (ego, doubt, death, sex, the new, money…). The sentences Ben writes can be truths, comments (on the world, current events), scenarios, invectives (to the public, to the art world), observations… Suddenly appearing in the viewer’s field of vision, they bring a smile to the face and often give food for thought.
    The signature: He starts to sign in 1958: paintings, people, photos. Ben then thought that if art is only about signature, then why not make a painting with just his own signature. Working with the concepts of self, ego and artist identity, Ben, “seems to be saying that since, to the public, art is synonymous with the artist’s signature, the more visible it is, the more the public will want that work. {…} At the same time, Ben speaks to the ego/self and the importance of self-reference in art, the exploration of the self and the ego – both subjectively and as a subject.” His manifesto “Moi Ben je signe” in 1960 shows the radical nature of his approach.
    Gestures / Actions: Down to earth, Ben’s gestures are close to George Brecht’s “events”. They are also called “shares”. His first gestures date back to 1960, theorized in what he calls “appropriations”. At first poorly documented, they are then photographed and titled, on a support most often black, with a brief description. These gestures show small, a priori banal, daily, unspectacular actions that Ben puts forward, in a Fluxus spirit.
    The performances “Life never stops” is one of Ben’s phrases. Playing on the codes of happenings and performances developed in the United States in the 1950s (Black Mountain College, Allan Kaprow), Ben mixes life and art from the 1960s to produce performances called “Vomir”, “Hurler”, or “Dire la vérité”, which he realizes near his store in rue Tonduti de l’Escarène or in the streets of Nice, warning the public or not.

    In 2010 Ben creates in Nice, in the center of the Liberation district, the “Espace à débattre “. A place that has come to life through many events.

     

    Three years later Ben offered this place to his daughter Eva who set up the Eva Vautier Gallery. It produces numerous exhibitions, performances, debates, bringing together citizens from all walks of life, contributing to the defense of these artists and contemporary art and creating a real dynamic contributing to give a new breath to the local artistic life.

     

    Ben Vautier

    Born in 1935, in Naples
    Lives and works in Nice

     

    PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS (selection)

     

    1960

    Ben exposes Nothing and Everything Laboratory 32 Nice
    Ben exposes Nothing and Everything Laboratory 32 Nice

     

    1966

    La Cédille qui Sourit, Villefranche Retrospective exhibition

     

    1970

    Galerie de La Salle, Vence Some ideas and gestures of Ben
    Daniel Templon Gallery Paris, All and Nothing
    Yelow Gallery, Brussels

     

    1971

    “Ecritures de 58 à 66 ” Galerie Daniel Templon Paris Personal exhibition 1972 ” Gestes ” Galerie Daniel Templon Paris/Milan

     

    1972

    Lia Rumma Gallery, Naples
    I.C.C. Antwerp, (Actions and gestures)

     

    1973

    “La déconstruction ” Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris
    Art = Ben Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

     

    1974

    Neue gallery, Aachen
    Yelow Now Gallery, Liege

     

    1975

    Gallery Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich
    Gibson Gallery, New York
    “Trying to be natural” Incontri Internazionali d’Arte, Roma
    Baudoin Lebon Gallery, Paris

     

    1976

    Kunstwerein, Bremen
    La Salle Gallery, Saint Paul

     

    1977

    Art is the others, Baudoin Lebon Gallery, Paris

     

    1979

    DAAD, Berlin

     

    1980

    Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris
    Marika Malacorda Gallery, Geneva
    Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal

     

    1981

    Catherine Issert Gallery, Saint Paul

    Museum of Art and Industry, Saint Etienne (Ben free and crazy)

     

    1982

    Castelli Graphics Gallery, New York
    Unimedia Gallery, Genoa (The Falklands)

     

    1983

    Beaubourg Gallery, Paris (The portraits)
    “the writings ” Daniel Templon Gallery Paris
    Lara Vincy Gallery, Paris (boxes and ideas)

     

    1985

    Tout Ben ‘ G.A.C. at the Marine Nice
    Stadt Gallery, Erlangen

     

    1986

    Salla Parpalo, Valencia
    Pierre Huber Gallery, Geneva (Banco)
    Catherine Issert Gallery, Saint Paul de Vence
    Shuppenhauer Gallery, Essen (Germany) (Proust)
    Unimedia Gallery, Genoa (Cultural Circus)
    FRAC Pas de Calais
    Emily Harvey Gallery, New York

     

    1987

    Camomille Gallery, Brussels (Les Miroirs)
    FRAC Calais exhibition of acquisitions
    Museum of Valence, (exhibition conference debate) 1987 Museum of Céret, Céret
    Labège Innopole, Toulouse Ben from A to Z
    M.U.K.H.A. Antwerp

     

    1988

    Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris
    Catherine Issert Gallery (4 different exhibitions in I month)
    C.C.C. Tours (with edition Jungle de l’Art)

     

    1991

    “A story of ass ” Daniel Templon Gallery Paris
    Frac Orléans I doubt therefore I am (sculpture for Descartes)
    Galerie Malacorda, Geneva ” No art without detail “.
    Mudima Foundation, Milan
    “7 years of happiness “Galerie Camomille, Brussels
    Emily Harvey Gallery, New York
    Center Pompidou, Ben’s Questions Forum
    “I know I always do too much” Marianne and Pierre Nahon Gallery, Paris

     

    1992

    “I have more room at home” Le Chanjour Gallery, Nice
    “Basta!” Gallery La Marge, Ajaccio
    Bugno and Samuelli Gallery Venice, L’arte e sempre altrove ”
    Gallery of Contemporary Art, Saint Ravy Demangel, Montpellier
    “It is necessary to be wary of the words ” Gallery Catherine Issert, Saint Paul
    “I dont want to do art I want… “Galerie Shupenhauer, Cologne, Solo exhibition
    Art and Joking Center, Montbéliard
    “Switzerland does not exist” Rosalp Gallery, Verbier Switzerland

     

    1993

    “I am alive I am in Nice” M.A.M.A.C., Nice
    “I don’t know how to paint” Gallery Guy Pieters, Knokke Zoute

     

    1994

    “A bas la culture” Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris

     

    1995

    “Ben, For or Against” Retrospective M.A.C., Marseille

     

    1996

    Museum of Solothurn, Switzerland

     

    1999

    “Life and death” Charlotte Moser Gallery, Geneva

     

    2000

    Gallery 1900-2000 show Fiac, Paris
    “La pagaille gagne du terrain ” Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris Exhibition

     

    2001

    “I am looking for the truth” M.A.M.A.C., Nice
    “Ist das nicht wichtig” Museum Schwerin, Germany

     

    2002

    “I wish I were a cactus” Gallery C. Gualco, Genoa
    National Museum of contemporary art, Korea Seoul Personal exhibition 2002 ” La chambre du philosophe ” Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris
    “Everything is music” Kahn Gallery, Strasbourg

     

    2003

    “Mon psy et moi ” Galerie Charlotte Moser, Genève Personal exhibition b ” Je suis en guerre ” Galerie Rive Gauche, strouk Paris
    Ben biz’art bazart, Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris
    “Difficult to be another” Plastic Arts Center, Saint Fons

     

    2004

    “The world is changing” Arsenal, Metz
    “The hidden part of the Iceberg” Gallery Catherine Issert, Saint Paul

     

    2005

    “Art is dead long live art” Studio Marco Fioretti, Bergamo
    “Bientôt on ne pourra plus arrêter la machine ” Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris 2005 Musée Chagall, Nice
    “I am a sex maniac” Storme Gallery, Lille

     

    2006 “Io dubito sempre” Gallery Soave, Alessandria
    “The limits of photography” André Villers Museum, Mougins
    “I’m drowning” Kahn Gallery, Ile de Ré
    “I’m no good at ceramics” Museum of pottery, Vallauris
    “The Others” Marlborough Gallery, Monaco

     

    2007

    “Tutto e competizione” JZ art trading, Milan
    “I can’t stop myself” Gallery Guy Pieters, Knokke
    “Tutto è ego” Studio d’Arte Fioretti, Bergamo

     

    2008

    “Gegen kunst” Gallery Schuppenhauer, koln
    “Quien es Ben?” Retrospective Musee Vostel, Malpartida

     

    2009

    “They all committed suicide” Templon Gallery Paris
    “La Baule privilege” Marcel Billy Gallery, La Baule

     

    2010

    Retrospective ” Strip Tease intégral ” Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon
    “Contemporary art makes me laugh ” Lara Vincy Gallery, Paris
    “Takes art as it comes” Gallery Shuppenhauer, Cologne
    “I still have something to say ” Galerie Les Tournesols, Saint Etienne 2010 ” Paniquez pas .. ” Nathalie Obadia Gallery, Brussels
    “100% EN OCCITAN” Gallery Sollertis, Toulouse

     

    2011

    “No rose without thorns ” Galerie Rive Gauche, Paris Marcel Strouk
    “And after that?” Museum of Louviers, Louviers
    “Ben Vautier ” ART BORES ME Gallery Vicky David, New York

     

    2012

    “Being ” Château de Malbrouck, Manderen in Moselle
    “The freedom of …. “Catherine Issert Gallery, Saint Paul
    “I’m not crazy ” Lara Vincy Gallery, Paris

     

    2013

    “The black hole of the ego ” Médiathèque François Mitterrand, Argentan ( onfrey )i 2013 ” Another Ben that … ” Helenbeck Gallery, Nice

     

    2014

    “The theory of the ego ” Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris
    “Life is a game ” Galerie Laurent Strouk, Paris

     

    COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS (selection)

    1962
    Misfits Fair, Gallery One London
    1966
    Gallery A, Nice, The superior red wine liter
    1971
    Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris Ecritures
    1972
    Museum of Luzerne Ben, Boltanski, Le Gac, Fernie
    Guggenheim Museum New York
    Documenta V, Kassel (Harald Szeemann)
    1977
    About Nice, Centre Pompidou, Paris (organized by Ben)
    1982
    Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (The wardrobe)
    1987
    Daan Gallery, Amsterdam
    1988
    Ludwig Museum, Cologne
    1989
    Frac Provence Cote d’Azur, Maeght Foundation
    Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane
    Art in France Centre Pompidou, Paris
    1990
    Venice Biennale, Fluxus section
    Biennale of Sydney, Sydney
    Gallery Littmann, Basel
    1991
    Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam Peter Stuyvesant
    1992
    World Exposition Seville, Swiss Pavilion
    Manifesto at the George Pompidou Center, Paris
    1993
    In the spirit of Fluxus, Walker Museum, Minneapolis
    1995
    Beyong switzerland art museum of Honk Hong
    1996
    Museum of Modern Art of Pragues, Fluxus
    1997
    1977-1997 Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
    2000
    Center Pompidou, re-opening
    2002
    Shopping Art, Tate, Liverpool (Le Bazar biz’art)
    2003
    Museum of the Object, Blois
    Cabinet of Manipulations, Venice Zenobio Palace
    2004
    “sound and light” Centre Pompidou, Paris
    2005
    40th anniversary of Fluxus, Nurenberg
    2006
    Le Tas d’esprits, Paris Galerie Seine 51, Lara Vincy, Rive Gauche, Christine Phal
    2008
    “I like to laugh” Gualco Gallery Unimediamodern, Gene
    2009
    “Suddenly the Fluxus summer”, Passage de Retz, Paris
    2010
    “We’ll see” Fluxus in Moscow
    2011
    “The time of action” Villa Arson, Nice
    2011
    Life exhibitionIlles posters Moma New York
    2012
    “Ben signs Nice ” Performance Ring Villa Arson, Nice
    2013
    Fondation du doute inauguration, Blois

     

     

    MUSEUMS AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

     

    Center national d’art et de culture Georges-Pompidou Paris (France)
    Museum of Modern Art New York USA
    Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris (France)
    Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon M.A.C. Lyon (France)
    Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Nice MAMAC (France)
    Museum of contemporary art of Marseille (France)
    Museum of Contemporary Art of Val-de-Marne (MAC/VAL) Vitry-sur-Seine (France)
    Museum of modern art of Céret (France)
    Museum of Art and Industry of Saint-Etienne (France)
    Picasso Museum (Antibes) (France)
    National Customs Museum Bordeaux (France)
    European House of Photography Paris (France)
    Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain Paris (France)
    Museum of the Object. Permanent installation ” Le Mur des Mots ” Blois (France)
    La Fondation du Doute Blois (France)
    Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (Netherlands)
    Staatliches Museum, Schwerin (Germany)
    Magritte Museum, Brussels (Belgium)
    Museum of Art and History of Geneva (Switzerland)
    Museum of Contemporary Art MuKHA Antwerp (Belgium)
    Museum Ludwig Cologne (Germany)
    Museum Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein Vaduz (Lichteinstein)
    Museum Kunstmuseum Lucerne (Switzerland)
    Museum Tinguely Basel (Switzerland) retrospective in 2016 “ist alles kunst? [archive]
    Maillol Museum Paris (France). Exhibition “All is Art” September 2016
    Museum Für Konkrete Kunst Ingolstadt (Germany)
    Museum of Modern Art Kampa Pragues (Czech Republic)
    Walker Art Center Museum Minneapolis USA
    Vostell Malpartida Museum Caceres (Spain)
    MUDIMA Foundation Milano (Italy)
    FRAC Rhône-Alpes Region
    FRAC PACA Region
    FRAC Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region
    FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon Region
    FNAC Paris (France)
    Faculty of Medicine Nice (France)

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