Marcel Duchamp with his Rotorelief Discs

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The web site, Only Images, has a good selection of photos of Marcel Duchamp. The site states:  "This [web site] is dedicated to the creators who have influenced my creative energy. To the people who have informed my art and moved me. Enjoy as much as I have."

Poster, 1953 Sidney Janis Gallery New York

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DadaCompanion.com has published a useful list of exhibitions.

"The following [list] is offered not as a complete list of exhibitions by Marcel Duchamp, but as a comprehensive selection intended to give a survey of his activities and the way his work came to be known. Invaluable sources for a complete listing are the publications by Francis M. Naumann and Hector Obalk and Timothy Shipe for Arturo Schwarz."

Jillian Mayer, H.I.L.M.D.A., 2011

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The title of Jillian Mayer's video submission to Art Basel may be inspired by Marcel Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q., but her grotesque content certainly takes matters a step further. In H.I.L.M.D.A., a section from Love Trips: A Triptych on Love, Mayer chews off her own arms. Actually, she only physically chews off one her limbs, the first she simply rips off with her as of yet intact other arm. The piece recalls the famous, and armless, statue of Aphrodite (or Venus) de Milo, which S. C. Dumont D’Urville had described in Two Voyages to the South Seas, Memoirs of Captain Jules as "a naked woman with an apple in her raised left hand, the right hand holding a draped sash falling from hips to feet, both hands damaged and separated from the body." Mayer's understands the loss of the Aphrodite's arms to be a kind of self-sacrifice, an affected choice, that ultimately becomes the icon of western beauty for centuries. Her project hopes to re-appropriate an original much like Duchamp had done. She elaborates in an interview with the Huffington Post: "like Duchamp's seminal work, H.I.L.M.D.A. also forces viewers to reexamine the living Venus that stands before an audience. It recontextualizes both the accepted meaning of the original work, context, and narrative." Think of it what you will, we'd just rather not have hear those sound effects.

John Morse, Haiku Traffice Signs

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Art, as Duchamp would have it, can be discovered both everywhere and nowhere in the world around us. Even the most mundane of objects can appear wondrous when an artist elevates their status, granting both title (or in some cases "untitled") and with it a world of implied significance. Conversely, certain art objects are embedded so deeply into everyday experience that we forget them, and the allure of their design disintegrates in the face of their use-value. The New York City Department of Transportation, as NPR informs us, is attempting to reinvigorate the presence of utilitarian art - to draw attention to that which is so often, frequently with dangerous consequences, ignored.

Artist John Morse has designed twelve novel traffic signs for the city of New York (ten in English, two in Spanish), each accompanied by a witty haiku. The striking images, executed in bold solid stretches of color, are visually appealing - the stark and occasionally comedic scenes that they portray catch the attention of passersby, who stop to read their subcaptions. Far from trivializing the seriousness of traffic accidents, the humor evident in each crafty haiku is extremely pragmatic. Typical traffic signage is ignored because it is boring; these new experimental designs serve to enliven the passing pedestrian and make him or her more aware of the surrounding environment. While traditional warnings have been completely dulled to us by consistent exposure, these unique, eye-catching works manage to draw us back into the world around us, hopefully avoiding future violent run-ins.

If you live in New York City (Manhattan and the boroughs), be sure to keep your eyes out for these comic and attractive new additions to our streetscape.

A sandwich is a sandwich is a sandwich?

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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 senses of humor. They discuss the statement such a "sandwich" is capable of making upon its eaters. You can judge the quality of their puns for yourselves. Here's a snippet from their conversation:

Peter: The layers! This is the culinary equivalent equivalent of a Rothko painting. Or it’s like a sandwich by Marcel Duchamp! It questions the essence of sandwich and language both!

Ian: Hey professor, why don’t you find us a painting of bacon in your fancy books?

Mike: Ceci n'est pas une delicious.

Eva: I'll take my sandwich to Gogh.