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Atlas Arkhive #4
Anecdoted Topography of Chance
An Anecdoted Topography of Chance is arguably the most important and entertaining "Artist's Book" of the post-war period. This edition is the definitive appearance to date of a unique collaborative work by four artists associated with the FLUXUS and Nouveau Realisme movements, and is substantially larger than the three previous versions published in France, the USA and Germany.
What is the Topography? Hard to explain an idea so simple yet so brilliantly executed. Following a rambling conversation with his dear friend Robert Filliou, Daniel Spoerri one day mapped the objects lying at random on the table in his room, adding a rigorously scientific description of each. These objects subsequently evoked associations, memories, anecdotes; not only from the original author, but from his friends as a beguiling creation was born. Many of the principal participants of FLUXUS make an appearance (and texts by Higgins, Jouffroy, Kaprow, Restany, and Tinguely are included, among others). It is a novel of digressions in the manner of Tristram Shandy or Robbe-Grillet; it's a game, a poem, an encyclopaedia, a cabinet of a celebration of friendship and creativity.
The Topography personifies (and pre-dates) the whole FLUXUS spirit and constitutes one of the strangest and most compelling insights into the artist's life. From out of the banal detritus of the everyday a virtual autobiography of four perceptive, witty and eloquent members of the human species.
What is the Topography? Hard to explain an idea so simple yet so brilliantly executed. Following a rambling conversation with his dear friend Robert Filliou, Daniel Spoerri one day mapped the objects lying at random on the table in his room, adding a rigorously scientific description of each. These objects subsequently evoked associations, memories, anecdotes; not only from the original author, but from his friends as a beguiling creation was born. Many of the principal participants of FLUXUS make an appearance (and texts by Higgins, Jouffroy, Kaprow, Restany, and Tinguely are included, among others). It is a novel of digressions in the manner of Tristram Shandy or Robbe-Grillet; it's a game, a poem, an encyclopaedia, a cabinet of a celebration of friendship and creativity.
The Topography personifies (and pre-dates) the whole FLUXUS spirit and constitutes one of the strangest and most compelling insights into the artist's life. From out of the banal detritus of the everyday a virtual autobiography of four perceptive, witty and eloquent members of the human species.
244 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
11 people are currently reading
329 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Spoerri
45 books3 followersDaniel Spoerri was a Romanian-born Swiss visual artist and writer. Spoerri is best known for his "snare-pictures," a type of assemblage or object art, in which he captured a group of objects, such as the remains of meals eaten by individuals, including the plates, silverware, and glasses, all of which are fixed to the table or board, which is then displayed on a wall. He also is widely acclaimed for his book, Topographie Anécdotée* du Hasard (An Anecdoted Topography of Chance), a literary analog to his snare-pictures, in which he mapped all the objects located on his table at a particular moment, describing each with his personal recollections evoked by the object.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 21, 2014
Daniel Spoerri's "snare pictures" involved trapping a set of physical circumstances -- a cluttered table-top, a pile of debris -- fixing it together, and presenting it on the wall as an artwork. Here, the literary equivalent, detailing the microscopic details and convoluted histories of every object on his table one morning. It's more or less a prolonged and arguably pointless game in the vein of Perec's attempt to exhaust a street corner, but full of fascinating details of the 60s art world (contributing friends include surrealist Meret Oppenheimer and Roland Topor, who provides illustrations of wine bottles and thumbtacks), and neat theory of absurd and off-handed art technique. As well as a kind of autobiography through the physical detritus of a life. Sounds like it would have been fun to hang out with Spoerri and co, or to attend their art shows and events. A clever and informative novelty.
February 16, 2025
In honor of the authors project here are all of the items currently on the table in front of me:
1. A square bookmark
Green felt triangle with flowers and the letter J embroidered attached to a thin cardboard square. Given to me by my sister this past Christmas and presumably purchased from Etsy. My mom, upon seeing it, mentioned that she almost bought me the exact same one.
2. Pink and red mosaic coaster
Made by me over this past thanksgiving break as a part of my week full of stupid little crafts. I didn’t use the proper amount of plaster and there is too much empty space on the coaster as a result making me worried about its longevity.
3. Mug
Given to me by my friend sage as a graduation gift when I completed undergrad.
4. Nyt mini crossword daily calendar
A gift from my mom that I received this past Christmas. It’s currently set to February 11 bc I’ve fallen behind (but I intend to catch up after finishing this review)
5. Placemat
Striped pink and white, slightly wrinkled, purchased from ikea.
On top of that placemat
6. Heart shaped crock
Purchased from the pottery studio I previously worked at and painted by me. Originally it came with a little spoon that I broke a couple months ago. Inside are sour patch watermelon candies.
7. Heart shaped bowl
Pink, purchased from HEB as a set of 2 (see no. 8) for 2$. It contains Reese’s hearts and hersheys hearts the latter of which were given to me by Sarah for Valentine’s Day.
8. Heart shaped bowl
Red (see no.7) containing KitKat valentines and 6 hersheys kisses with peanuts characters on the wrapper given to me by a student during my Thursday desk shift as a valentines gift.
9. Candle
Lavender vanilla - a gift from my sister
10. Glass
Decorated with flowers, purchased from goodwill when I first moved into an apartment
11. Pink and red bird
Wearing a chefs hat and apron that says “cutie pie” a gift from my mom several years ago that I picked out in December and she purchased and withheld from me until Valentine’s Day
12. Bowl
Green and handmade by me in 2018.
Inside of that bowl
13. Remote
To the cable box that I never use but am required to have as a part of my apartments agreement with spectrum
14. Lighter
Electric, makes a horrible buzzing sound when you use it
15. Fish shaped tag
Teal colored. One side says George and the other contains my contact info. This tag is supposed to live on his harness but was taken off for I don’t remember what reason
16. Puzzle piece
To the puzzle basic witch (that is both disappointing in quality and picture)
17. Hair pin
18. Button
That says “give a damn” from an exhibition I worked my first year of undergrad
19. Drill bit
On the bottom shelf of the table:
20. Stack of coloring books
Purchased throughout the past couple of months
21. Water-based markers
Half of which are dead.
22. Empty spot
Where my alcohol markers that replaced the dead water based set normally live
23. Stack of three puzzles
24. Sheets of plastic
Meant to be used behind a page to prevent bleed through by your markers. I don’t use these because they ironically cause significantly more bleeding than just a sheet of paper
25. Extra nibs
For the dead water based markers (21)
26. First aid kit
That normally lives in my bag but was removed for god knows what reason and I forgot to put back
1. A square bookmark
Green felt triangle with flowers and the letter J embroidered attached to a thin cardboard square. Given to me by my sister this past Christmas and presumably purchased from Etsy. My mom, upon seeing it, mentioned that she almost bought me the exact same one.
2. Pink and red mosaic coaster
Made by me over this past thanksgiving break as a part of my week full of stupid little crafts. I didn’t use the proper amount of plaster and there is too much empty space on the coaster as a result making me worried about its longevity.
3. Mug
Given to me by my friend sage as a graduation gift when I completed undergrad.
4. Nyt mini crossword daily calendar
A gift from my mom that I received this past Christmas. It’s currently set to February 11 bc I’ve fallen behind (but I intend to catch up after finishing this review)
5. Placemat
Striped pink and white, slightly wrinkled, purchased from ikea.
On top of that placemat
6. Heart shaped crock
Purchased from the pottery studio I previously worked at and painted by me. Originally it came with a little spoon that I broke a couple months ago. Inside are sour patch watermelon candies.
7. Heart shaped bowl
Pink, purchased from HEB as a set of 2 (see no. 8) for 2$. It contains Reese’s hearts and hersheys hearts the latter of which were given to me by Sarah for Valentine’s Day.
8. Heart shaped bowl
Red (see no.7) containing KitKat valentines and 6 hersheys kisses with peanuts characters on the wrapper given to me by a student during my Thursday desk shift as a valentines gift.
9. Candle
Lavender vanilla - a gift from my sister
10. Glass
Decorated with flowers, purchased from goodwill when I first moved into an apartment
11. Pink and red bird
Wearing a chefs hat and apron that says “cutie pie” a gift from my mom several years ago that I picked out in December and she purchased and withheld from me until Valentine’s Day
12. Bowl
Green and handmade by me in 2018.
Inside of that bowl
13. Remote
To the cable box that I never use but am required to have as a part of my apartments agreement with spectrum
14. Lighter
Electric, makes a horrible buzzing sound when you use it
15. Fish shaped tag
Teal colored. One side says George and the other contains my contact info. This tag is supposed to live on his harness but was taken off for I don’t remember what reason
16. Puzzle piece
To the puzzle basic witch (that is both disappointing in quality and picture)
17. Hair pin
18. Button
That says “give a damn” from an exhibition I worked my first year of undergrad
19. Drill bit
On the bottom shelf of the table:
20. Stack of coloring books
Purchased throughout the past couple of months
21. Water-based markers
Half of which are dead.
22. Empty spot
Where my alcohol markers that replaced the dead water based set normally live
23. Stack of three puzzles
24. Sheets of plastic
Meant to be used behind a page to prevent bleed through by your markers. I don’t use these because they ironically cause significantly more bleeding than just a sheet of paper
25. Extra nibs
For the dead water based markers (21)
26. First aid kit
That normally lives in my bag but was removed for god knows what reason and I forgot to put back
January 23, 2009
daniel spoerri has created something of a literary analog to his "snare-pictures" (tables which he fastened objects to and hung as art)-- the "anecdoted topography of chance" constructs a world out of the small items that happened to be on a particular table of spoerri's at an arbitrarily chosen time. this book can be a lot of things; it can be a pin-hole autobiography, a fluxus-informed theory of art, an illustrated journey through the fetishized clutter of a serious pack-rat, a compendium of odd information, and a pointless "game" with no rules or objective. spoerri, i thank you for the wealth of strange information about wine-stoppers, rheumatism pills, and vaginal music-balls that you have shared with me, however i can not understand (really, i can't) how anyone could compile a list of bible quotations relating to salt and fail to include anything about lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt. pay attention, dude.
January 14, 2020
1. It’s the same discomfort as reading PYNCHON but without the plot or characters though it does have a kind of logic rhythm to it [e] ?
2. There is no wrong way to read this book, but maybe, also, in being impossible to read as ‘reading’ it ends up not being worth any kind of effort whatsoever because it’s meaningless ?
f. You don’t even get the satisfaction of blaming anyone ! It was revised by too many different participants !
Appendix XVI
4 stars for originality, structural consistency, reinventing the art form and that it genuinely made me laugh
2. There is no wrong way to read this book, but maybe, also, in being impossible to read as ‘reading’ it ends up not being worth any kind of effort whatsoever because it’s meaningless ?
f. You don’t even get the satisfaction of blaming anyone ! It was revised by too many different participants !
Appendix XVI
4 stars for originality, structural consistency, reinventing the art form and that it genuinely made me laugh
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2008
Daniel Spoerri specializes in "snare photography". In this book he photographs his kitchen table and then dedicates a chapter of the book to each item on the table. It is surprisingly fascinating, believe it or not.
March 30, 2013
This is blowing up my world!!! Hard to find at a cheap price. Grab it if you see it under $200!!!
May 22, 2023
I just could not resist this book.! The title alone is worth reading.
Want to read
February 28, 2008Interesting "artist's book" by a Frenchman who documented every item on the only table in his apartment, made a drawing and wrote a description of each piece, then gave the manuscript to his friends and visitors so they could comment. Ensuing: a discussion about much more than just a hunk of bread with a bit taken out of it.
Read
August 31, 2018702.81 S762 2016
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews