Arrabal and Topor's 'Champagne pour tous' Celebrates Panic and Laughter

Jacques Henric reviews 'Champagne pour tous', a book of interviews between Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor, published by Stock. The book captures the irreverent spirit of the two artists, founders of the Panic Movement in the early 1960s. Both men, shaped by traumatic childhoods—Arrabal's father imprisoned under Franco, Topor's father interned at Pithiviers—chose humor and provocation over political engagement. They briefly joined the Surrealists but soon broke away, more aligned with Dada. The book is structured as a series of conversations, with Arrabal reconstructing Topor's words from memory after his death five years prior. Henric emphasizes their shared belief in panic as a creative force, encapsulated in the phrase 'Nothing is serious, everything is panic.' The review also notes that a retrospective of Arrabal's films and an exhibition of his graphic works open on October 16 at Studio Accatone.