The Seat of Ideas
SPTB 001
Robert Filliou & Edwige Regenwetter
16 pages
Illustrated
5.5 ins. x 8.5 ins.
Paper
Saddle stitched
1981
This book is an English translation of LE SIEGE DES IDEES, published by Editions Lebeer Hossmann in 1977. It is the result of a collaboration between Robert Filliou and Syntax, who proposed a limited edition English translation of the book.
The book accompanied an exhibition of a facsimile of the Seat which was presented at Off Centre Centre, Calgary, Alberta and The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, B.C. and served as a catalogue for the exhibition, mounted in 1981.
The book is a logical analysis by Edwige Regenwetter, a Swiss mathematician, accompanied on each page by a photograph of the Seat.
The symbiotic relationship of the text to the repeated image of the Seat creates an artwork in its own right - a work which is dependant on the idea of the Seat, yet independent of its physical existence.
The absurdity is that the idea of the Seat of Ideas itself can only be adequately presented to others in its physical representation.
Robert Filliou died in 1988. As an active member of the Fluxus movement and mentor to a small but effective group of Western Canadian artists, his influence was of immeasurable significance to the formation of the Canadian artist-run parallel gallery network.
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