that you almost work in a kind of premonitory state of mind… T.E. - Yes indeed, the Abode does have a kind of Oracle quality. In March 2006 we painted a por trait of Hassan Nasrallah when in fact the war in the Lebanon start ed on 14 July of the same year. For us, Hassan Nasrallah represented something somewhat untypical, a kind of mixture of Nasserism and Islamism (editor's note: Hassan Nasrallah has been the General Secretary of the Lebanese Chiite organisation Hezbollah since 1992). We re alised that a war in the Lebanon was once again a possibility and there fore we decided to paint a portrait of Nasrallah. Likewise with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad whose por trait we painted long be fore he became President of the Republic of Iran. At the time he was Mayor of Teheran, but he was al ready talking about the return of the Mahdi. He said that he passionately wanted to see chaos, be cause chaos would signify the return of the Mahdi. And blissful would be the world that would receive Him… We already felt the emergence of a redoubtable theologian and, through him, the re-emergence of the Persian Shiite movement and the entire Shiite arc that runs from Iran through Bassorah in Iraq, to the Shiites in Saudi Arabia at one end… and Pakistan at the other. So, yes, the Abode of Chaos also functions like a Press Agency pro ducing images without commen tary and endowed with a type of premonitory capacity that allows it to write and codify what could possibly happen in the future. L.C. - In concrete terms, how does it function? The camera crew of "Envoyé Spécial" has already filmed you doing your daily media scan in the village café. How does this "info-
system" function… from the morning digestion of news to the mural paintings? T.E. - I use information process ing algorithms and a type of total immersion. When you follow glob al news on a regular basis, you ac quire premonitory skills based on geopolitical developments, car tographical considerations and a sort of macro- and micro-econom ic dereflection. (Translator's note: dereflection may be understood here as seeing beyond the purely
number of wars will become pos sible, because beyond 100 dollars a barrel, war would become the cheaper option. This premonition is based on an anticipation that is itself based on information that the 'other' does not have. We inev itably get back to the same start ing point: information warfare. In sum, you have to go find the infor mation in its primary sources, and then cross it and intersect it with other info. And with Internet, amongst other tools, we can 'capil liarise' and conduct a deep 'data mining' of the in formation.
developed a totally paranoid vision of the world. And it is Kubrick's vision that I am studying… that dominated his thought in the last years of his life. An acute conspir acy theory vision. He got to such a level of deciphering that he de cided to close himself off from the outside world. Some Kubrick fans actually believe that he is still alive and that he orchestrated his own burial. I would happily buy into this legend… It at least has the merit being aesthetically pleasing.
L.C. - Why is it that such work is so rare and that these predictions are never used for the common good of the people?
T.E. - I think this film contained a message that hasn't been seen. A denunciation of a Victorian era translated to the end of the 20th century. Kubrick's believed that class struggle was a key societal paradigm. He was obsessed with it. And in this film - beyond the sex which remains totally superfi cial - he introduced a 'third degree', that of the Victorian saga that he rejects, but which he realises is gradually coming back.
T.E. - It's always the same: Because information is the key to pow er. States possess this type of infor mation. In reality they possess enor mous quantities of information. But the 'common good' does not coincide with the interests of the ruling classes and therefore the di vergence from the common good arises from the captivity of this in formation.
L.C. - What is your analysis of his film Eyes Wide Shut?
Houellebecq made it his business to write a book about it. In fact we did not wait for the pub lication of Les Particules élémen taires to write about this milieu with our sociologist friend. We an alysed the exchange clubs milieu, the sexual minorities, homosexu als, transsexuals, etc. The partner swapping milieu is very particular. It used to have a genuinely 'revolu tionary' side to it. Back in the 70s and 80s, fifty people from com pletely different backgrounds used to fuck all together in the same room, whereas in any other kind
T.E. - Yes, it's most likely a social contract. In every case, it requires a lot of construction, a lot of mu tual concession. It's substantially
tion of power and knowledge. This of course allowed me to get a very early understanding of networks of influence. It gave me good visi bility on the distribution of tem T.E. - No, it's the pressure of in formation. I had a little head start poral and spiritual power …and that 'real' power must have both. over my contemporaries. It's an Here, we have a perfect example of old soldier's reflex… noise defeats noise. My relations with the media this analysis. I think the Vatican is still the most having taught me that latter has powerful State in the world. By no limits, the best solution to ob tain some form of social peace was its very nature, it is a State that has no frontiers and it has a mas to generate a massive "noise" at tack. "There is nothing hidden that sive number of followers. It has will not be revealed. There is noth both temporal and spiritual power. What is very interesting, howev ing kept secret that will not come L.C. - What made you declare you polygamy so publicly? Was it a deliberate decision?
such as the Ordre des Veilleurs du Temple, the Knights Templers… and so on. To use a phrase one en counters in masonry, I am an eter nal visitor. After my long Dry Path, I am what one might call a "multi-cardholder", i.e. practicing a number of different obedienc es. I believe we need to return to the origins of masonry… to the ep och when the obediences only ex isted for the fires of Saint John and when people were free in a free lodge. Again, it's the idea of the Japanese Ronin I mentioned earlier. For the free-masons, the Dry Path is the equivalent of the Ronin's path in life. L.C. - Which is pretty much what your life is like today… both material with Serveur Group and spiritual with the Abode of Chaos… T.E. - Exactly. The Abode of Chaos is a material incarnation of the temporal order. And then there is a spiritual dimension with the Salamander Spirit which is more related to the spiritual and to al chemy. Basically it's a double-head ed work.
L.Z. - Speaking of sex and lifestyle, your polygamy is no acci dent… t is more or a deliberate choice if I correctly understand?
of public meeting, they would have 'killed' each other. The abolition of T.E. - Yes, it's been going on for twenty-five years now, since 1980 social classes via an orgy, via a sex ual party, certainly deserves cod to be precise. Polygamy consti ification. As the years went by, we tutes a sort of matriarchal soci discovered that others were also ety within which woman have a studying the milieu in Germany, certain power. At the beginning Italy, Spain and North America. A of the 21st century, women have L.C. - Why Kubrick on the Abode of more and more power. In econom kind of sociological analysis was Chaos and not another film producics, the notion of physical strength applied to how sex creates a social er? I suppose that this is no coincibridge across which people very is disappearing. In our family, it dence … quickly get to the essential. That's all happened very naturally. Not L.C. - When you say 'information proby assertion, sexual or otherwise; what is so astonishing about an cessing algorithms', is that some kind T.E. - There is also an author orgy. Whoever you are fucking, it's more a way of thinking and a like Philip K. Dick. But it's true, of metaphor for the way you think? once the sex is over, the following Kubrick had a true vision. I appre method of organisation. This sort conversation always goes straight ciate the vision of exceptional be of clan that we constitute is in T.E. - No, one day we'll see how it to the point with questions that teresting because the distribu works in applied neurology. Today ings in the evening of their lives. tion of information between each would otherwise take friends or We were talking the other night we know, that if the oil price gets acquaintances ten or fifteen years of the individuals is different. We about Warhol and his mysticism. to 100 dollars a barrel, there will to get around to discussing. These are also very free in our ways, but Andy Warhol used to go to prey be ruptures in the system, ex are phenomena that have been de that comes to anyone who is ac every morning. He was totally ploitation lines, profound mod absorbed into an extraordinary lit customed to an Epicurean milieu, scribed hundreds if not thousands ifications, for example climatic which we were - long before Michel of times. urgy. Kubrick, on the other hand, changes. We also know that a economic logic of the news). And at the same time there is the idea that the individual is master of his destiny. For example, when we talk about the Iranian President or George W. Bush, they are above all men who take decisions. And these 'information processing al gorithms' allow me to sense what the near future may hold for us.
L.Z. - What interests me is to know whether polygamy is for you a declaration of intention…
to light". - Paul the Evangelist, Corinthian apostle. L.C. - Speaking of Christianity, your father was, I believe, close to Opus Dei. Can you tell me some thing about your childhood and your adolescence?
more complicated that a monoga mous relationship. In fact, I total ly understand why the Republican marriage contract outlaws polyg amy. For many people it would be a source of very serious problems. (laughs)
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T.E. - My father was already rel atively old when I was born. He was born in 1901. Having at tended Ecole Polytechnique and obtaining a Ph.D in Law, he trav elled throughout Europe with the Vatican II council (1962-65) which observed the ostentatious wealth of the Church. At the time, the world had an interesting cartog raphy of powers and influences. Opus Dei brought together busi ness men and Church men in a form of Christian Masonry which set up a very particular distribu
Page 430 er, is that the Vatican is the most la Demeure du Chaos computer savvy State in the world. vue d'un drône The structuring of its database is The Abode of Chaos from a drone quite exceptional. Indeed, quite P age 431 extraordinary.
L.C. - Opus Dei is fairly politically coloured is it not? T.E. - Yes, although one finds Opus Dei in a variety of differ ent circuits. In reality, it's actually quite complicated. One immedi ately thinks of Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, its founder. But it goes much further. In any case, it pushed me towards a certain con clusion: "Behind every secret soci ety there is another secret society". That's why I have involved myself in practically every imaginable es oteric network, including mason ry, The French Grand Lodge, and also other more complex groups
Gaël L. Borderline Biennale 2011 "Survive The Apocalypse" la Demeure du Chaos
L.C. - I read somewhere that you establish a link between baptismal fonts and the media. Can you ex plain? T.E. - Baptismal fonts and the ma jor sources of information all have a 'State reality'. The baptism is ac cepting an individual who does not belong to the "common good" and who via a church liturgy, becomes an "apparent" member of a com munity. Today, the media act as baptismal fonts, legitimising indi viduals in the community. Today people are given a score and the only trace they leave is that left by the media which manages the evo lution of their success rating. L.C. - And as far as material wealth is concerned, what is you relationship to money? T.E. - It's very simple: We were among the major fortunes in
manifestation