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Notice (1972)

Taking into account:

— that works of visual art have never successfully transmitted to viewers the message, the philosophy, the poetry, or even the sensibility that their creators thought they had bestowed upon them,

— that viewers are brilliant (see Robert Filliou) but require, in order to unpack their poetico-philosophical picnic, vacant sites prepared for that purpose,

I have (for twenty years) made objects that are useless (and thus artistic), characterized by the absence of any interest in composition or execution, and by the presence of simple and obvious systems that often call upon genuine chance or upon the viewer’s participation.

This is how I have reduced to a minimum (or so I hope) my involvement, my creativity, and my sensibility, and can therefore notify you that anything you find beyond my little systems (even if it is nothing) belongs to you, the viewer.

Translated by Daniel Levin Becker. © Dia Art Foundation. English translation originally published in Béatrice Gross with Stephen Hoban, eds., François Morellet (New York: Dia Art Foundation, 2019), p. 202.
Originally published as “Avertissement,” in Dunhill présente l’Idée et la Matière (Strasbourg, France: Pavillon Joséphine de l’Orangerie, 1974), n.p.