Jean-Jacques Lebel

Featuring: Joëlle Léandre

Edition of 200 copies. Jean-Jacques Lebel lives and works mainly in Paris. The artist and political activist was chief editor as early as 1955 for the Florence-based art, politics, and poetry magazine Front Unique. In 1960, he staged the first Happening in Europe with "L'Enterrement de la Chose" and published one of the first French essays on the genre of Happenings. He personally continues to create Happenings, performances, and actions on all continents and simultaneously remains active in the visual arts, as a poet, and politically.
In addition to his artistic work, in 1960 and 1961 he organized the international demonstration and group show "L'Anti-Procès" in opposition to the Algerian war and torture. In 1964 he was the creative mind behind the "Festival de la Libre Expression" and in 1979 the "Festival International Polyphonix," both of which involved discussions by poets, filmmakers, and musicians from widely diverse countries. Jean-Jacques Lebel has worked together with, among others, Claes Oldenburg, Allan Kaprow, Tetsumi Kudo, Erró, Carolee Schneemann, Yoko Ono, Daniel Pommereulle, Nam June Paik, and Robert Filliou.