Duchampian News & Views

  • (Re)make it new

    "Johnson and Duchamp turned springs and shovels into art objects by renaming them, changing their context, casting them in new light. The shovel never changed–just the way we looked at it. ..Duchamp's shovel is still a shovel. John Gordon says that as a curator, he's ' looking for craftsmanship and intellectual engagement. This might be an object that appeals to me on a Christmas-gift level, but museologically I look for something more. It's hard to do good things that are .. read more...
  • The genius of Duchamp?
    Larry Evans on chess: Marcel Duchamp’s vexing problem

    “Many years ago [Francis] Neumann also submitted it to my column in Chess Life, offering a reward of $15 to anyone who either could solve it or prove there was no possible solution. ‘ I have since subjected this problem to the most powerful computers and I am now convinced that Duchamp has given us, in effect, a problem with no solution.'”

    read more...
  • Marcel Duchamp: Etant Donnes

    “This is the first exhibition to examine the genesis, construction, and reception of Etant donnes: 1° la chute d’eau, 2° le gaz d’eclairage (Given: 1° The Waterfall, 2° The Illuminating Gas), Marcel Duchamp’s enigmatic final masterwork that was secretly executed in New York during the last 20 years of his life and discovered in his studio soon after his death in October 1968. The exhibition will be on view from July 2009 to October 2009.”

    read more...
  • Duchamp & The Indifferent Field of Possibilities

    "This segment is from my documentary on Dada titled, "Random Acts of Beauty: The Story of Dada." this segment examines Duchamp’s interest in randomness and chance as compared to the Zurich Dadaists. It is a different take altogether."

    read more...
  • Duchamp & the Hatrack

    "This segment is from my documentary on the Dada movement titled, ‘Random Acts of Beauty: The Story of Dada.’ Here, Stephen C Foster talks about Duchampian mind-games used to determine what qualifies as art. "

    read more...
  • Ranking the greatest artworks of the twentieth century

    "His [David Galenson] statistical approach has led to what he says is a radically new interpretation of 20th-century art, one he is certain art historians will hate. It is based in part on how frequently an illustration of a work appears in textbooks. 'Demoiselles' came in at No. 1 with 28 illustrations....Marcel Duchamp's 1917 'Fountain' — a white urinal — was seventh with 18 illustrations, and his 1912 painting 'Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2' was ei.. read more...
  • Photo bomber “Art Interventionists”

    “Critics will say that photo bombing hardly constitutes ‘art intervention,’ which is the intentional meddling into a pre-existing piece of artwork or even an art venue, like a gallery or museum. (The performance artist who took a hammer to Marcel Duchamp’s famous urinal — titled ‘Fountain’ — in Paris in 2006 and called it his own ‘art’ is a good example of an art interventionist. Same goes for an artist who manages to sneak his work into a museum.)

    read more...
  • What is Kinetic Art?
    Avant-Garde Art in Motion Challenges the Observer

    “Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Duchamp’s output had considerable influence on the development of post-World War I Western art, and whose advice to modern art collectors helped shape the tastes of the Western art world.”

    read more...
  • Interview with Marcel Duchamp

    “Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Duchamp’s output had considerable influence on the development of post-World War I Western art, and whose advice to modern art collectors helped shape the tastes of the Western art world.”

    read more...