Assessing the Situation (Faire le point), by Ben Vautier

From: Ben Vautier. Is everything art?, pp. 43 – 57 (photographed below: the first four pages) (click to enlarge)

©2015 Museum Tinguely, Basel, Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg Berlin, authors,  artists and photographers [and translator!]. ISBN 978-3-86828-649-6 

Page 45, in the first of the two images here:

…quand je me sers d’easy find pour chercher une idée.

Version that went to print: when I find it easy to look for an idea.

As I recall, the word “find” was missing from my working document at the time of translation, but it was clear to me that “easy” referred to an item of software or a software feature (EasyFind), and so I submitted a more accurate translation than the one that was ultimately published: “when I use easy to look for an idea”. 

Seemingly, the copy editor had no means of checking it against the French. When you think about it, too, the English makes little sense in the context of the writer’s struggle to find ideas.

This is particularly unfortunate as, in this case, my translation is printed alongside the French original.

 

le point_1 le point_2

Ben Vautier Everything Art Translation Art French English