UN COUP DE DÉS JAMAIS N’ABOLIRA LE HASARD. OMAGE, DÉ-COMPOSITION 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4
Paris: La Bibliothèque Fantastique, 2010
190 x 135 mm, pp.
Xeroxed, stapled
In successive performances, Bennequin was rolling dice and determining which words to erase, by means of a gommage (scrubbing with a rubber) from Mallarmé's UN COUP DE DÉS.
Throughout the resulting versions DÉ-COMPOSITION 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4, the text further de-composes.
The resulting genre is referred to by the artist as OMAGE:
"Résister à l’emprise du maître tout en lui vouant une sorte de culte… Un sacrifice scrupuleux. Tuer le père, n’est-ce pas ? Faire table-rase… Gommage… en montrant ma gratitude… Hommage. Ainsi l’hommage procède du dommage et le dommage de l’hommage… Paradoxe.
Slowly shed it. Resisting the master's hold while devoting a kind of worship to him... A scrupulous sacrifice. Kill the father, right? Making a clean sweep... Scrubbing... showing my gratitude... Homage. So homage proceeds from damage and damage from homage... Paradox."
Jérémie Bennequin