If Eins. Un. One..., 1984 is an emblematic piece in the MAMCO collection, and it’s also the last major work by Robert Filliou (France, 1926–1987). It consists of 5,000 blue, red, yellow, black, white, and wood-colored dices of various sizes, each with a single dot on its face, randomly distributed over a surface nine meters in diameter. This imposing, playful mandala seems to be the opposite of the artist's small, poetic, and precarious bricolages that immediately spring to mind when his name is mentioned. 

This new volume on the MAMCO collection contains an introductory text by Michel Collet, who explains the conceptual power of Filliou's work, while the analysis by Sophie Costes carefully surveys all the artist's works in the museum's collections, from Poï-Poï, his first hand-made exhibition catalogue in 1961, each copy unique, to Eins. Un. One... in all its multitude. Her analysis shows us that Robert Filliou has always used play, action, philosophy and language to question the foundations of artistic creation with humour and benevolence.

This book also reminds us that Robert Filliou, who liked to think of himself as a "genius without talent", rubbed shoulders with Joseph Beuys, George Brecht, John Cage, Dick Higgins, Allan Kaprow, or Daniel Spoerri and even the Dalai Lama, while remaining a discreet figure who wanted to abolish the  hierarchies established by art history.