born in Algeria in 1936, was a biologist and zoosystematician, also an important cultural actor as an artist, curator and also, for a period, as assistant to minister of culture Jack Lang. He befriended the Flussers shortly after they settled back in Europe in the early 70's and was instrumental in finding them their house in Robion where Vilém would write most of his best known books. This house in Robion was on 30km away from the Bec residence in Sorgues, which allowed them to take up the habit of weekly Sunday dinners together followed by extensive theoretical and speculative conversations, among the product of these was the book “Vampyroteithis Infernalis” which featured the scientistic drawings of fabulatory cephalopods.

Bec was perhaps the only close friend Vilém never fell out with. His family and the Flusser's family also become close, travelling together on the “secret trip” to Prague in 1986.

As an artist, Bec was daring and irreverent, founding the Institut Scientifique de Recherche Paranaturaliste, a speculative artistic research group of which both Edith Flusser and Dany Bec were members. Becs artwork involved the development of an extensive and inventive taxonomy of fictional creatures which could exist in alien environments such as in mercury or in sulfur. He conceived perhaps the first bio-art festival in Europe called “Vivants artificiels” in Avignon in 1986.

Besides his collaboration on Vampyroteuthis, Bec also collaborated on the Casa da Cor orject, participating in the conference held in Sao Paolo in 1988.

Publications: “Vampyroteuthis Infernalis” (with V.Flusser, Göttingen, 1988), “Elements D'Epistemologie Fabulatoire” (ed. by C.Langton, Santa Fe: 1990), “Elements D'Hypozoologie” (G.Pompidou Centre, Paris, 1993), “Esthetique Du Renfloue” (ed. by P.Weibel, Munich-Vienna, 1993), “La Vie Artificielle Comme Machination” (Ars Electronica, Linz, 1993), “Des Systemes Technozoologiques Comme Fabulation” (French Institute, Bilbao, 1996). Chief curator of “Le Vivant Et L'Artificiel” (Avignon 1984), Art/Cognition“ (Aix en Provence 1992), “Emaitre” (Moscow-Genoa 1996-99) and “AVIGNONumeriqie / Les Mutalogues” (Avignon - the Cultural Capital of Europe, 2000), as well as “E-agora” and “Alterne” (London, Lausanne, Graz, Amsterdam, Marseilles and others, 2002-05).

The 3-d computer modeled versions of various invented cephalopods screened as part of the exhibition BODENLOS were produced in collaboration with the French National Science Centre (CNRS), the Laboratory of Photon Researches at the Strasbourg University (ENSPS/ARTCAPI), the Biology Laboratory at the University of Grenoble.