M HKA Ensembles

Mixed Media, 60 x 60 cm.

Collection: Collection Eric Decelle, Brussels.

The Principle of Equivalence, Filliou’s very own trinity, is a full frontal attack on the fundaments of Western culture: value and judgment. From an artistic and philosophical point of view, ‘well made’ may be seen as the canonical ideal of imitating nature and ‘badly made’ as a space for research and experimentation, while ‘not made’ is concept, axiom or principle.

Excerpt of the conversation between Robert Filliou (RF) and Irmeline Lebeer (IL), Flayosc, France, August 1976.

RF: This, again, is the Principle of Equivalence… I’ve sometimes used it to explain the Principle of Equivalence as I applied it in works like the red sock in a yellow box and Research on the Origin, I’ve often used the expression ‘Exhibition for the Third Eye’. I’ve tried to explain that a work like the red sock in a yellow box may simply interest you visually, which I think is the case with most people, but that you can also go deeper into it if you want, to really follow how the Principle of Equivalence develops, and then it becomes an ‘Exhibition for the Third Eye’. Again, the largest part of Research on the Origin is not made. We can make that reference, to the Third Eye.