Monday, January 09, 2006

Urinal v Elderly Hammer-Wielding Artist



A 77 year old performance artist attacked one the various versions of Fountain (above) by Marcel Duchamp at a Dada exhibition in Paris. His age is unimportant, I just find the image of an old man attacking a urinal with a hammer funny. DadaMan 2006 claims that Duchamp would have approved of his ninja moves as a piece of performance art. He may have a point, since the Dada movement was associated with an anti-art and nihilistic ethos.

Many people are still baffled as to why a signed urinal that is renamed Fountain is considered an artwork. It's almost been 100 years, people... are you joking me? The work questions the nature of art- something that was revolutionary in 1917, but is pretty pedestrian aujourd'hui. As Duchamp himself said, he had "taken an everyday article, made its usual significance disappear with a new name, and - from that point of view - created a new and entirely aesthetic meaning for this object". I suspect that many of the people that dismiss Fountain would also consider Mariah Carey to be the Beethoven of our generation. Or find Paris Hilton interesting. Or make a special trip with the girls to Starbucks once a month to 'treat' themselves to a European beverage. I could go on.

By the way, DadaMan 2006 also pissed in another one of the Fountains floating around museums around the world. I think he's either obsessed, has a very narrow focus or a limited imagination.

8 Comments:

At 6:24 PM, Blogger FLAMINGO1 said...

The picture makes me need to pee. Be right back.

 
At 10:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Beethoven was rubbish mate - no words, mostly, no good beats and no uncontrollable warbling. Plus Mariah is much fitter. Actually, probably not to you, but Beethoven is no prisoner #234-717.

 
At 10:34 PM, Blogger Genet said...

I can't fucking stand Beethoven except as a sedative. Mariah's shrieks, on the other hand, make me feel like I've smoked 97 grams of meth.

Have her tits ballooned or did I just not notice before?

 
At 12:03 AM, Blogger Martyloo said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 12:06 AM, Blogger Martyloo said...

You just didn't notice Mariah's tits before.

I saw "Fountain" with Sausage a few days before it was vandalised.

90% of the Dada exhibit was crap, but I suppose that's the kind of reaction the Dadaists would have wanted out of me. (Then they would have taken my statements and created an exhibit made of 90% manure.) The few things I liked were well worth it, including some paintings by Otto Dix that freaked me out. The Centre Pompidou is still as cool as ever. Sausage enjoyed it, but I'll leave it him to add his own damn comments.

 
At 12:07 PM, Blogger PDD said...

Yes, I too like the 'Fountain'. And Beethoven.

I heard that if Paris Hilton or Mariah Carey ever found out about the 'fountain', they would want to reinvent themselves by what they would later claim was the "emancipation of the plunger".

 
At 3:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dada Man 2006 sounds like he needs a valium. It kind of reminds me of the Ocad "myth" that a student actually flew to Paris to puke purple jello on the Mona Lisa. The student apparently has been banned from most established Galleries around the world. if only I could be that famous for puking.

 
At 5:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sausage and his brother went to that exhibit two weeks ago !!!

 

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