Ben Vautier
Mystery Envelope
New York City, USA: Fluxus, 1964
15 x 15 cm.
Edition size unknown
An envelope containing black offset print on blue cardboard. The envelope reads MYSTERY ENVELOPE and the blue card reads NO MYSTERY. Another version featured the envelope bound the other way, so that the only way to open it was to unscrew the bolts holding the book together and completely disassemble its contents. Inside, cruelly, was a simple card with Ben's name.
Vautier has produced many related works, both before and after Fluxus, including Mystery Box and Flux Mystery Food cans.
Maciunas took great pleasure in the production of multiples that would "be very practical, since we can dispose of garbage by this...and even get money for it". He imagined filling the mystery boxes with egg shells and orange peels, chipped plaster, used stencils and tea bags. As they were designed to never be opened, it is unclear if he followed through with this approach.
"I made many Mystery Boxes in different forms. They were in my room of objects when George Maciunas [first] visited me in '63."
- Ben Vautier
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