exposition
ye
py
EXPLORING THE SOCIETY OF SPECTACLE IN
MARCEL DUCHAMP: ÉTANT DONNÉS
“The viewer draws back from The door
feeling the mixture of joy and guilt of one
who has unearthed a secret. but what is the
secret?” asks octavio Paz of marcel duchamp’s
Étant donnés.
The life of a secret is long. it plays mercilessly
with the pulsating gap between public and
private as we monitor our words and movements,
as well as those anticipated on behalf of others.
"all in all, the creative act is not performed by the
artist alone…the spectator brings the work in
contact with the external world by deciphering
and interpreting its inner qualifications and
thus adds his contribution to the creative act,"
duchamp reminds us. This dialectic between
the solitary and spectacular—the erotic
tension between the voyeur and his object—is
precisely what duchamp explores and explains
in his Etant donnes: 1[degree] la chute d'eau, 2
[degree] le gaz d'eclairage (Given: 1[degree]
oct + nov 2009
the waterfall, 2 [degree] the illuminating gas).
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