¹ Eric Berne Games People Play, New York, Grove Press, 1964. My reference is taken from the French translation Des Jeux et des Hommes, Paris, Stock, 1975, p. 15). "By extending the meaning it is possible to use the word ‘caress' familiarly to designate any act which implies the recognition of the presence of another. Consequently a caress can serve as a fundamental unit of social action. An exchange of caresses creates a transaction, a unit of social relations.

"On the theoretical level, the principle which arises here is that any kind of social relation offers a biological advantage over the total absence of relations. "

² John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1953.

³ In addition to personal "caresses" (words exchanged, gestures, listening attitudes, etc.) a vernissage includes a "convivial gratification" such as a buffet where can be found champagne, cocktails, fruit juices, which may or may not be accompanied by canapes, all depending on the importance of the event and its hosts; a special "gratification" is reserved for collectors who generally are treated to a pre-vernissage, a preview, at which they can admire and, if pos sible, buy before the public. Likewise a special gratification is reserved for friends (in the broad sense) in the form of a dinner. It may sound like I am making much ado about nothing, but when closely examined it is clear that these operations, subtly distributed, are part of the promotional system. This is why official exhibitions which generally involve an honorary committee must face up to difficulties of protocol which are not always easy to resolve: which ministers, which ambassadors, in what order? Protocol, the show window of political power, does not forgive blunders.

⁴ Later I will define this notion of degree which distinguishes international, national, regional and local artists.

⁵ This notion of property merits further development. Indeed, the plastic arts—painting, sculpture, engraving—are distinguished by the fact that they exist on material supports. Unlike other arts (theatre, ballet, concert, poetry) which unfold in time, they are by their very nature similar to movable objects which can be traded. Such objects must be neither too large nor too heavy, and they must be easily transportable. This is proven by the parallel market in stolen works. As far as I know, no one has ever stolen an opera or ballet in the material sense of the term. Likewise, with regard to the plastic arts, the theft of a cathedral or a church is impossible. On the other hand, traffic in paintings and sculptures is more than thriving. Theft activity in art works exactly delimits the field of the art market and the nature of the title of ownership.

⁶ These two terms do not refer only to artistic activities; they form blends in which are combined elements of the gossip column and surprise. One need only recall the articles unleashed by the paintings produced by Yves Klein when he began, among other things, to imprint on canvases the forms of nude women who had been first covered with blue paint.

⁷ The custom or the ritual of celebrating a centenary, bi-centenary or simply the fiftieth anniversary of the birth or the death of an artist or, to take another example, the transfer of Guernica from New York to Madrid, are il lustrations of the phenomenon. From one day to the next the heat of the news forces critics to speak of it for no other reason than that of the calendar or of the event.

⁸ Realizing the importance of the new media, UNESCO, together with the International Council of Museums (ICOM), announced its intention to produce a "slide collection of contemporary art (1960-1980) which would include paintings, sculptures, objects, etc. from different countries of the world, given the fact that art from this period is not sufficiently well known and that it is little reproduced." Materially the collection included four albums of approxi mately thirty slides each. Following an initial meeting of the experts, a list of artists was drawn up, and I was invited to make known my "commentaries and suggestions" with regard to it. With great astonishment I noted that of the roughly 160 artists on the list, fifty were American, sixteen French, fourteen Italian, eight German, and the rest scattered among other nationalities of the globe. I sent a letter to UNESCO to point out this terrible prejudice and the unbalance which resulted from it. I never received an answer. If I mention this incomplete correspondence, it is not simply to announce a personal incident. but to underline a fundamental aspect of power in relation to art. The four albums of 120 slides will be advertised under the title (not yet definitive) of Contemporary Art (1960-1980). It is evident that for its users—universities, schools, museums, cultural institutions of all kinds-the definitive collection will, because of the authority of UNESCO, become a model documentation, though not an objective one. It is possible to guess the kind of pressures and tribulations that ideologies and interest groups are tempted to bring to bear upon it.

The latest information (verbal) I had was that UNESCO had decided to reformulate its project. Noted.

⁹ Robert Burbage, Jean Cazemajou, André Kaspi, Presse, radio et télévision aux Etats-Unis, Armand Colin, coll. U2 n° 181, Paris 1972, p. 356.

¹⁰ Warhol joked that it allows anyone to be "world famous" for five minutes.

¹¹ For the sake of discussion, I am applying the term biennale to all such events whether they be true biennales, or triennales, quadriennales, Documenta, Salons, etc. Their common trait is their regular appearance in a given place.

¹² The city of Cognac, with a population of about 10,000, has just created a festival devoted to detective films in which, apart from the appeal of the event in itself, the city hopes to encourage authors of these thrillers to modify the behavior of their characters in one respect at least. Studies made by serious sociologists have pointed out that whisky is the favorite beverage of cops and robbers alike. Could the Cognac festival have as a side effect the replacement, at least partially, of the omnipresent whisky by the local product? Such motivation was expressed quite clearly by one of the festival directors on radio France-Inter in March, 1982.

¹³ The objection can be made that such events almost always operate in the red, which is true. But a more refined analysis of the situation brings out the fact that articles in the press as well as radio and TV programs are of great value to the sponsoring city, worth as much or even more than advertisements which it would have to purchase in order to "sell" itself to tourists. One need only consider the bitterness of the struggles in which cities engage to obtain the privilege of organizing the Olympic games, which are, to be sure, another type of event.

¹⁴ A no less surprising fact is that, to my knowledge, there has been no developed study devoted to this (when will there be a thesis written on it?). It should be noted that members of the jury are themselves designated by the organizing group or, in the case of public commands, which must be studied in more detail, by political authorities. The persons consulted are qualified as "experts." Since the title itself does not exist as such (except in certain countries for courts and customs operations), it is to their fame or to the importance of their functions that they owe their being invited. Let us add that although the jury is a relatively stable institution, those who take part in it are not. For reasons which depend either on the organization or on public authorities, members of the jury change. Their power thus depends in part on the power of those who name them. It is true that a juror who leaves often finds another jury in which to take his place. The world of art can thus lay claim to a club of super-jurors!

¹⁵ Such is the case of the International Tapestry Biennale at Lausanne which operates on the principle of open competition.

¹⁶ Is it necessary to point out that an "area where nothing happens" in no way means that it is empty or inactive, but only that not being "activated" by our Western conditions, it does not fit our model?

And two further remarks: 1. I am describing the situation in countries with a market economy; countries with a socialist or communist economy are separate. 2. The English expressions (used in the French text) seem sympto matic to me of the influence wielded by America; I could just as easily have spoken of " places chaudes," "places tièdes" or "aires froides;" the reader will have to decide which terminology he prefers.

¹⁷ My distinction requires two further remarks: 1. The cool places are subject to large variations; the list of cities which I have given above is in no way exclusive; 2. My distinction must be applied relatively; in many countries, wealthy in general, there exist hot places which are the capital cities as op posed to the "provinces." Between the two are active centers (cool places), which are certain large cities.

¹⁸ The metaphor is misleading. A "source" connotes a natural phenomenon, whereas information is a ready-made artifact, a product.

¹⁹ The nature of the act of appropriation seems to me fundamental for explaining this point. The need to have an automobile (an industrial product) or a table made by a carpenter (hand-crafted product) can be satisfied by the act of purchasing which makes of me the proprietor of the object. On the other hand, when I stand in front of the Mona Lisa, I can truly "appropriate" to myself its imaginary value, make it my own; but in this case there is no transfer of ownership. Symbolic appropriation is no less important than material appropriation, but in today's world everything is organized in such a way that the latter dominates, to such an extent that there is practically a "symbolic" industry: selling an automobile means selling the prestige of a particular model and make as well. But not all imaginary needs have been industrialized (yet). Appropriation has not (yet) been reduced merely to the purchase of a product. We should also reflect on the industry which makes possible the appropriation of imaginary values by the use of photographs, substituting an image for the original thereby making the image a product.

²⁰ This requires an apprenticeship practiced by every society to establish the imaginary which they need to live and which has the name culture, based on value.