Who Says a Sandwich Can’t Be Art?

December 3, 2011 Of all the news posts you could have expected to see here at marcelduchamp.net, you probably never imagined that a sandwich would gain our headline. Well, turns out one has. This jewel is composed simply of two pieces of toast containing butter, salt, and pepper (that's all folks); and, it has officially been decreed the cheapest sandwich in Great Britain by a team of scientists (according to NPR). It should go without saying that these scientists are not without sense.. read more...

An Artist Meets a Composer at a Party…

November 29, 2011

For those interested in collecting trivia, Marcel Duchamp met composer Igor Stravinsky at a party in New York in 1966. As they parted, Duchamp turned to Stravinsky and said:

"Maestro, see you in another 50 years."

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Huang Yong Ping and Xiamen Dada

November 28, 2011 Huang Yong Ping was one of the founding members of the Chinese Xiamen Dada group, inaugurated in 1986 with a series of provocative group exhibitions. Members of the group had accumulated bits of knowledge about the original Dada movement from miscellaneous books and magazines that could be found in the island city of Xiamen. Huang Yong Ping and his friends felt an immediate kinship with the past movement and decided to integrate a number of Dadaist principles, in addition to .. read more...

John Cage’s music for Marcel Duchamp

November 17, 2011 If anyone can be called the Duchamp of the music world, it's probably John Cage. As the grandfather of avant garde music, he pioneered irregular meter, indeterminacy and unconventional use of musical instruments. In 1947, he composed "Music for Marcel Duchamp", and we have a performance of it in the link below. The unpredictable structure and radical selection of tones definitely echo Duchamp's sensibilities, have a listen and determine for yourself whether or not Cage's piec.. read more...

The Perfect Punch Line…

November 14, 2011   In a recent blog entry, visual poet Geoff Huth wrote about the different ways that people come to experience art--when they’re standing directly in front of a painting.  Some of us might like to share every thought we have with our companions and devote long minutes to each and every piece on display.  And, others of us might prefer to silently ghost about the gallery floor, gliding from one room into another, never stopping for more than a few crucial.. read more...

"Air Art –Marcel Duchamp" by Peter Duggan

November 10, 2011

This week's Guardian Artoon by Peter Duggan features Marcel Duchamp in the punchline.


We give it five stars here at marcelduchamp.net.

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How to find Duchamp in 2666

November 9, 2011 "The idea, of course, was Duchamp’s. --- All that exists, or remains, of Duchamp’s stay in Buenos Aires is a ready-made.  Though of course his whole life was a readymade, which was his way of appeasing fate and at the same time sending out signals of distress.  As Calvin Tomkins writes: As a wedding present for his sister Suzanne and his close friend Jean Crotti, who were married in Paris on April 14, 1919, Duchamp instructed the couple by let.. read more...

The Maharaja Come to San Francisco

November 5, 2011 When Man Ray photographed the Maharajah Yeshwant Rao Holkar II and his wife the Maharani Sanyogita Devi of Indore, he had to loosen them up by playing them jazz before he could capture their likenesses in the iconic photograph above and in numerous others.  The photograph will be displayed as part of an exhibit at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco--“Maharaja: The Splendor of India’s Royal Courts”--among over 150 over pieces depicting the splendor .. read more...

Lady Gaga’s Potty Art

November 3, 2011 Of course, the next person to create their own version of Marcel Duchamp's hundred year old Fountain (1917) for a publicity stunt is Lady Gaga. The infamous pop star, or self-titled "Fame Monster," she used Armitage Shanks, the title of her urinal sculpture, as an accessory at a photo shoot for Vogue Homme Japan with the iconic photographer Nick Knight. She signed in black scribble, "I'm not fucking Duchamp but I love pissing with you." Lady Gaga has since .. read more...