Duchampian News & Views
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Duchamp at El Bulli
September 9, 2010Marcel and Teeny Duchamp were privileged — or maybe the balance of honor swings the other way around — to eat the "deconstructed cuisine" at noted restaurant El Bulli. If Duchamp pioneered an art that lurks beyond the "retinal," then Ferran Adria arguably explores a cuisine that goes beyond the gustatory. On the other hand, perhaps his flavored foams and other decoctions marry the mind back to the mouth.
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Duchamp and the Mandarins
September 8, 2010A special exhibition at the Israel Museum juxtaposes Duchamp’s "Waistcoat for Benjamin Peret" with embroidered Chinese mandarin robes as part of an interrogation of the cultural determination of art. If a "readymade" garment is art, then does that aura translate?
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Saying the Least about Marcel Duchamp
September 7, 2010One of the most extraordinary online essays on the subject of Duchamp — in or outside the precincts of ToutFait.com — is Yakov Rabinovich’s "Duchamp: To Say the Least." From silent comedy to the arch negations of Voltaire (and wheeling back again), this study of how Duchamp’s career intersects with all our ancien regimes is both exquisitely playful and essential all at once.
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Duchamp DIY Paris
September 6, 2010 As a motto, "do it yourself" covers models of production ranging from the arts & crafts movement to IKEA, and from the Sex Pistols to Marcel Duchamp's readymades. The flagship DIY store in France, BHV, is paying tribute to the readymade aesthetic -- "assisted" and otherwise -- with a special retrospective of Duchampiana that opens Thursday. An illuminating segment on France24 provides an unusually literate overview of the readymade universe, its connec.. read more... -
Witch’s Cradle Returns to Brooklyn
September 3, 2010Marcel Duchamp was a seminal figure in the avant-garde film world for decades. In 1943, he appeared in a rarely seen short directed by Maya Deren in connection with the Guggenheim "Art of the Century" exhibit. After too long unscreened, this footage — along with other experimental films of the era — recently showed in Brooklyn.
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Peggy Guggenheim, the Movie?
September 1, 2010 A feature film about the life of Peggy Guggenheim, legendary modern art collector, patron and friend of Marcel Duchamp -- not to mention one-time bride of Max Ernst -- is moving into the development stage. Eleanor Cayre is onboard to lead the project through its early phases along with award-winning producer Nikki Silver. No casting details have yet been announced, but as filming is not even scheduled to begin until 2012, news will likely trickle out over the next few years... read more... -
Deconstructing Duchamp
August 26, 2010The popular show "Seduction of Duchamp" is coming to the Museums of Los Gatos. While many exhibitions inadvertently become a showcase of Duchamp tributes and swipes, this one wears its influence proudly. Chess demonstrations, lectures and other events add to the ambience.
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Reassembling the Readymade
August 24, 2010Chinese artist Zhou Wendou has made his name breaking down barriers between the mass object and the art object, or between the useful and the useless. The Duchampian slant of his aesthetic is on display — or rather, not on display — in his recent untitled demolition of a copy of the Fountain and reassembly of the fragments into a porcelain vase.
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Bearded Ladies of Minnesota
August 23, 2010A recent benefit gala for the Minnesota Institute of Art featured a circus theme and such diversions as bearded ladies on display and a "wheel of dada" spinning for unique and fetishistic prizes. As local society columnist Maura Ryan put it, "Marcel Duchamp has my back."
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