Untitled - Emily Harvey Foundation

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“La verità e l’importanza del lavoro di un artista stanno nella verità
e nell’importanza di ciò che esso ci permette di fare – nei pensieri
che ci aiuta a pensare e nelle azioni che ci aiuta a compiere”.
Henry Martin
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“Marcel Duchamp TU M’…emmerdes parce que tu as tout soulagé comme art, parce que tu as tout inventé comme art, parce
que tu as tout fait passer comme art”.
Antonio d’Avossa
Parafrasando Henry Martin, perché Duchamp (e perché Cage)
oggi? E’ così universalmente riconosciuto che sono stati loro, nel
secolo scorso, a chiudere e ad aprire contemporaneamente una
porta sull’arte, è così sterminata la letteratura che li riguarda, che
poco si potrebbe aggiungere, a meno di essere poeti o illuminati,
artisti insomma.
Mi limiterò quindi a raccontare la genesi di questa (queste) mostra
(mostre).
Tre anni fa, un’amica parigina, Jacqueline Sigaar, mi ha regalato
il film di Allan Miller su John Cage “I have nothing to say and I am
saying it”, di cui è stata co-produttore. Nel film la presenza di Duchamp è rilevante e soprattutto è rilevante lo spirito, la ricerca del
nuovo, lo sconfinamento vertiginoso in tutte le dimensioni possibili
che accomuna questi due grandi… in breve me ne sono innamorata e ho incominciato a pensare a un’occasione per presentarlo.
All’inizio c’era la piccola idea di una manifestazione solo di documenti, libri, cataloghi, video, di cui ho una collezione abbastanza
vasta, poi le cose si sono complicate, sono diventate molto più ambiziose. E in modo quasi casuale (“Io non cerco, trovo”, ha detto
Picasso) sono cominciate ad apparire le opere. La mia prima idea
di titolo era “Les Grands Parents” che Antonio d’Avossa ha trasformato in “Les Grands Trans-Parents” (Breton docet) e che Henry
Martin ha arricchito con i suoi sottotitoli: entrambi hanno contribuito
con due testi che non esito a definire “poetici”. Poi le cose si sono
ancora complicate: frugando nella memoria e in quell’immenso
caos che è il mio archivio, ho trovato una serie di opere di artisti più
contemporanei, in cui Duchamp e Cage sono il riferimento esplicito. Ad alcuni altri ho chiesto se volevano contribuire con un lavoro
nuovo ed è stato molto eccitante per me, scoprire quanti si sono
riconosciuti come “nipoti” dei grandi “nonni”. Li ringrazio tutti con
grande passione.
Desidero anche ringraziare Antonio d’Avossa e Henry Martin e
tutti coloro in qualche modo hanno contribuito a rendere possibile
questa avventura: Piero Cavellini, Valeria Carrega, Enzo e Edda
Gazzerro, Nanni Ghio, Carlo Palli, Mauro Panichella, Raccolta dei
Campiani, Jacqueline Sigaar, Aldo Spinelli, Nicola Trentalance.
Caterina Gualco
Febbraio 2015
“The truth and importance of the work of an artist lie in the truth
and importance of what it permits you to do—in the thoughts it
helps you to think and in the actions it helps you to perform.”
Henry Martin
!
“Marcel Duchamp TU M’…emmerdes parce que tu as tout soulagé
comme art, parce que tu as tout inventé comme art, parce que tu
as tout fait passer comme art.”
Antonio d’Avossa
!
Paraphrasing Henry Martin, “Why Duchamp” (and “Why Cage”)
today? Both have been universally recognized as the figures of the
last century who most, and at one and the same time, both opened
and closed a number of doors for art, and the literature on their
contributions is so extensive as to leave little to be added, if not on
the part of poets or enlightened minds, or, in short, of artists.
I’ll therefore limit myself to telling the story of how this show (these
shows) have come into existence.
Three years ago, a Parisian friend, Jacqueline Sigaar, gave me a
copy of Allan Miller’s film on John Cage, “I have nothing to say and
I am saying it,” of which she was the co-producer. Marcel Duchamp
was an important presence in this film, but, more than anything
else, it was marked by the spirit that was shared by these two great
men, their search for the new, their dizzying foray into all possible
dimensions. In short, I fell in love with it and begin to look for an
occasion on which to present it.
At first, there was the small idea of a show consisting only of documents, books, catalogues, and video, of which I have a fairly considerable collection, but then things turned more complicated, and
the project grew more ambitious. It was nearly, moreover, as
though by chance (“I don’t search, I find,” said Picasso) that works
for the exhibition began to appear. The first title that came to my
mind was simply Les Grands Parents, which Antonio D’Avossa was
then to transform into Les Grands Trans-Parents (Breton docet), for
which Henry Martin, in turn, was later to suggest the subtitles. Both
have contributed a text which I don’t hesitate to call “poetic.” Things,
as I said, grew even more complex: poring through my memory
and the enormous chaos of my archive, I discovered a series of
works in which more contemporary artists make explicit reference
to Duchamp and Cage. There were also others whom I asked to
contribute a new work, and I found it quite exciting to see how many
artists now look upon themselves as grandchildren of these Grands
Trans-parents. My heartfelt thanks to all of them.
I must also express my gratitude to Antonio d’Avossa and Henry
Martin as well as to all the other persons who have contributed to
making this adventure possible: Piero Cavellini, Valeria Carrega,
Enzo and Edda Gazzerro, Nanni Ghio, Carlo Palli, Mauro Panichella, Raccolta dei Campiani, Jacqueline Sigaar, Aldo Spinelli, Nicola
Trentalance.
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Caterina Gualco
February 2015
MARCEL TU M’EMMERDES ENCORE.
Marcel Marchand des lits et ratures, incest et passion, question d’hygiène intime, c’est la vie,
c’est la vie en rose, l’oeil trompe trompe l’oeil, rétinique, anémique, les cases conjuguées,
réconciliées, rotoreliefs, mise à nu, valise, surprise, grise, oculists, souvenirs, perspectives, du
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fontaine, chute d’eau, eau de violette, Bel Alein, parfum d’obligation, roulette au porteur,
enameled, poussière, en rrose, en vert, en rouge, en noir, en pharmacie, moustaches et
barbe, bagarre et bagarre, les portes et les bagarres, les peintures et les portes, poubelles et
hirondelles, roues et roulettes.
HIMALAYAN FOUNTAIN , Katmandu Nepal, febbraio
2015. Foto Antonio d’Avossa.
Marcel Inventeur du Dadaisme, du Surréalisme, du Nouveau Réalisme, du Fluxisme,
de l’Instantanéisme, du Situationnisme, du Popisme, du Conceptualisme, du Postmodernisme,
du Grand-pèrisme, du Tonsurisme, de l’Etoiléisme, du Rroséisme, de l’Errat’um-misme, du
Suzannisme, du Muttisme, du Fontainisme, du Recettisme, du Voyagéisme, du Parisairisme,
de l’Opticisme, du Rotativisme, du Témoignisme, de l’Elevagéisme, du Boitéisme, du
Sneezéisme, du Célibatairisme, du Rue-Larreysme, du Valiséisme, du Moustachisme, de
l’Eclairagéisme, du Chastetéisme, du Torturéisme, du Hoquetisme, du Champagnisme, du
Shopisme, du Plagiarisme, su Sansfairerienisme, du Leonardisme, du Boomerangisme, du
Cigarisme, du Sechebouteillisme, du Regardisme, du Vouyerisme, du Légendisme, de
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L’ART DE RIEN,
Katmandu Nepal, febbraio 2015.
Foto Antonio d’Avossa
READYMADE SHOP
Kathmandu Nepal, febbraio 2015.
Foto Antonio d’Avossa.
Marcel Artiste des boites, des confessions, terrible nouvelle, savoir et savoir-faire, bizarreries,
les idées noire font passer des nuits blanches, bicyclettes, culottes et échecs, grande et verre,
mise à nu, mise a nu, mise a nu, en échec, le roi, le roi, la reine, la reine, l’échiquier, la bagarre
de la gare d’Austerlitz, à l’Hotel Ritz, Hotel de Ville, BHV, bazar et hazard, stoppages, étalon,
piston, marron, cochon, bouton, creation, oignon…
MARCHAND DU SEL , Katmandu Nepal, febbraio
2015. Foto Antonio d’Avossa.
Marcel Duchamp TU M’…emmerdes parce que tu as tout soulagé comme art, parce que tu as
tout inventé comme art, parce que tu as tout fait passer comme art.
Antonio d’Avossa, Février 2015
Marcel Duchamp, Marchand du Sel, Empêcheur de danser
en ronde
Marcel Duchamp, Marchand du Sel, Empêcheur de danser
en ronde
How much does one really know about Marcel Duchamp? Especially if this question is a way of suggesting that it might be worth
one’s while to interrogate ourselves about the ways in which we
make use of him. Did he put an end to art, or did he revitalize it?
And what might be the sense in which he did both? I remarked in
my preface to Why Duchamp, a book that I wrote in collaboration
with Gianfranco Baruchello, that “The truth and importance of the
work of an artist lie in the truth and importance of what it permits
you to do—in the thoughts it helps you to think and in the actions
it helps you to perform.”
There are two very curious sides to Marcel Duchamp: on the one
hand, his works can skirt close to the trivial. What, after all is
one to do with a urinal signed with a bilingual pun? (“R. Mutt” is
also the German $UPXW, which means “poverty.”) But this also
implies that Marcel Duchamp was the only possible arbiter of the
meaning of his work, and the only possible judge of its value. And
on the other hand, he elaborated a nearly impenetrable personal
myth of dizzying complexity: the story of a Bride and her Bachelors and their adventures in the fourth dimension. So, which of
these two ways of thinking and working is the guide we feel we
need to follow? To which do we owe the greater allegiance? Or is
it possible to grasp and appropriate the sense in which each is an
extension the other?
Henry Martin
February, 2015
Quanto sappiamo davvero di Marcel Duchamp? Soprattutto se
questa domanda è un modo per suggerire che potrebbe valere
la pena di interrogarsi sui modi in cui ne facciamo uso. Ha posto
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ci permette di fare – nei pensieri che ci aiuta a pensare e nelle
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Vi sono due versanti assai curiosi dell’opera di Marcel Duchamp.
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del proprio lavoro, e l’unico possibile giudice del valore dello stesso. E dall’altro lato, egli ha elaborato un quasi impenetrabile mito
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suoi Scapoli e delle loro avventure nella quarta dimensione. Quale, dunque, di queste due vie di pensiero e di lavoro è la guida
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cui ciascuna è l’estensione dell’altra?
Henry Martin
Febbraio, 2015