Ben, the stage name of Benjamin Vautier, born July 18, 1935 in Naples and died June 5, 2024 in Nice, defined himself as an international artist from the “Occitan ethnic group”. He gained notoriety in the late 1950s, particularly through his “writings”, available in various forms and on unusual media, which earned him success and fame. At the post-modern artistic avant-garde, Ben belonged to the Fluxus group. According to Ben, the world should be multicultural. In 1962, he met François Fontan and discovered his theory on ethnic groups: a multicultural vision of the world in which each people has its contemporaneity and creativity. Ben supports the idea of ​​the existence of an ethnic group for each human language in the world, which is why he spoke out against linguistic “genocides” and for the right of every man to carry and claim his language and culture of origin. In 2011, he was at the heart of a major cultural operation carried out in Toulouse under the aegis of the City Hall, and in particular an exhibition of his works at the Espace Croix Baragnon as well as an installation at the Maison de l’Occitanie entitled “to save the world”.

This exhibition returns throughout the month of December 2024 to his birthplace to pay tribute to this timeless artist. Program Afternoon of December 13:

from 4 p.m. multimedia platform within the Maison de l’Occitanie bringing together guests, artists, authors, poets… at the microphone of Radio Occitanie (rebroadcast on several other media live).

6pm: official opening of Ben’s original exhibition: Per salvar lo monde / to save the world! Until 8pm: poetic performance – chat and music “Sem Ben Aqui!” with:

– Michel Battle;

– Jacme Gaudas;

– Serge Pey;

– Claude Sicre and Aurélie Neuville du Breulh: “Attrape Ben”;

– and the musicians Sergio Berardo and Robi Avena.

8pm: speeches by elected officials representing the supporters of the Maison de l’Occitanie for its 18th anniversary.

8:30pm: friendly meal offered by Convergencia Occitana. 9:30pm: concert by Sergio Berardo (from the group Lou Dalfin des vallées occitanes d’Italie) and Robi Avena. Reservation required on https://www.helloasso.com/associations/convergencia-occitana/evenements/anniversari-de-l-ostal-d-occitania