💬 Have been doing a deep dive into the Fluxus art movement of the 1960’s and am more than a little inspired by the anti-retail shop opened by Robert Filliou and George Brecht, which they named “La Cédille qui Sourit,” or “The cedilla that smiles.”
The thoughtfulness and spirit of the work speaks for itself, but I do adore this tidbit about Filliou, as quoted in JSTOR:
Filliou’s text suggests a fully relational model of subjectivity that, while individual, desires to be fulfilled or made able by connecting to others. It was a model lived by the artist himself, who depended for his survival upon the kindness and generosity of friends, who simply reflected the kindness and generosity of their friend Robert back to him. Well aware that this had become his habitual approach to working and living, he once remarked: The real talent I have is for friendship. Ninety-nine percent of my work is not visible."
This is a vital part of creating what they called a “poetic economy;” a concept that is not going to be leaving me anytime soon. They struggled with the same challenge of being purists versus needing money that many artists struggle with today. What is more important, is that they considered the act of non-creation, failure, and mere ideation, a virtue. They worked hard to not be famous.
When the anti-retail shop inevitably closed, since it was hardly ever open and never really had “inventory”, the artist’s sent out a letter to their friends with the following:
“There is always someone making a fortune, someone going…broke (us in particular)