Jean-Paul Albinet belonged to the generation that, in the 1970s, took art out of its frame and set it down in the street and in the newspapers. In 1975, with Philippe Cazal and Alain Snyers, he founded the UNTEL group, whose very name — “so-and-so” — is a programme: the everyday, reproduction, anonymity. In 1990 Gencod, the body that issues France's retail barcodes, assigned him a personal barcode, the 337731 — the first artist to carry a commercial identification number, which he turned at once into a signature.
The story
Born in the Tarn in 1954, Jean-Paul Albinet belonged to the generation that, in the 1970s, took art out of the picture frame and put it in the street and in the newspapers.
In 1975, with Philippe Cazal and Alain Snyers, he founded the group UNTEL, which spent five years photographing, miming and replaying the daily life of cities: the name itself — French for what-do-you-call-him, the name given to anybody at all — was a programme.
In 1990 he obtained from Gencod, the body that issues France's retail barcodes, a digital signature — the code 337731 — becoming the first artist registered like a brand. The barcode stopped being a logistical tool and became a material.
His work went on to explore that language of bars and figures, at the moment when computing was beginning to write on every object in the world.
He died on 4 May 2022 and rests in Division 86, avenue des Étrangers morts pour la France, first row. The stone has him born in 1951, three years too early — an inaccurate figure on the grave of the man who had made a code his signature.
The grave
A brief inscription: “Jean Paul ALBINET, 1951-2022”. The year of birth is wrong by three years: Albinet was born on 13 December 1954. Nothing recalls the UNTEL group or the barcode 337731 he had made his signature — the artist who spent thirty years on identification has on his grave only a name, and a figure that is wrong.
On site, do not miss
Read the year of birth carved here: 1951. It is wrong by three years — Albinet was born in 1954. The man who made a number his signature has an inaccurate figure on his own stone.
Visitors' questions
Where is Jean-Paul Albinet's grave?
In Division 86, avenue des Étrangers morts pour la France, first row. The Division holds several contemporary burials, among them those of the actor Didier Bezace and the artist Huang Yong Ping.
Didier BezaceWhat was the UNTEL group?
A contemporary art collective that Jean-Paul Albinet co-founded, working on the everyday, on reproduction and on anonymity — the group's name, which means “So-and-so”, being a manifesto in itself. He belonged to the generation that took art out of the frame.
Huang Yong PingWhy a barcode on a work of art?
Because in 1990 Albinet obtained a digital signature from GS1 France, the code 337731: the first artist to hold such an identifier, he made the barcode a material, at the moment when computing was beginning to write on every object.
Nicolas KerWhat is his exact date of birth?
13 December 1954. The stone carves 1951: the year is wrong by three years, and it is one of the misspellings of Père-Lachaise, like the “GOMEZ CARILLO” with one R missing. For an artist who had made an identification number his signature, an inaccurate figure on his own grave is not without irony.
Fabrice EmaerAudio guide to Père Lachaise: the best unusual guided tour!
Discover the secrets of the most astonishing tombs
the audio guidefrom€6.99