miltos manetas just outside dracula’s castle in the village of bran, romania

you wanted to hire lexicon branding to make a name for a new form of art and you asked for 100.000 us and you got it. how did you get the news that you got the money and how did you feel? did you scream, cry or you were like “of course”?

i haven’t even asked (my producer – yvonne force – and her company – artproduction fund) – for the money, i thought that it was an impossible project and i was just complaining that i will never be able to find such an amount and yvonne turned and told me, “don’t worry honey, i will find you the money and we will find the name”. “just call the company and ask them if they want us for clients” i did call them and they were very busy, they had no time to work for us but after a meeting they finally accepted us. at that point, i was happy but again i wouldn’t believe that they will come with a proper name but they did. i got the fax with different terms proposed during my show at the almine rech gallery in paris and when me and mai we show neen between them, we were suddenly very happy, we knew that it was real, the term had its own destiny already, we just had to help it fulfil it.

what is the funniest thing you have ever seen in your life?

i think that the funniest thing in the universe, is the name “tosic”. everytime i see it written or someone pronounce it, i feel the mixture of joy and provocation that offended christianity for centuries.

did you ever fart very loudly during really romantic sex?

maybe while drunk but i don’t remember. it can also happen during homosexual sex and i suppose that’s the reason most men avoid this experience.

what do you think art is?

you see stuff people or intelligent machines are doing and they are mostly forgetable. you immediately erase them from your memory or you assign them a fixed shortcut form and keep them there for practical reasons. but there are things you want to keep with you forever and show to others because you are never “done” with them, you’ll never “understand” them. these things are, or they can become at some point, “artworks”.