"The Dada movement made its name in the early 20th century by trying to destroy the conventional notion of art. Taking literal inspiration from their exploits this week, a latter-day neo-Dadaist took a small hammer to Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain,' the factory-made urinal that is considered the cornerstone of Conceptual Art. The assailant, a French performance artist named Pierre Pinoncelli, was immediately arrested after his act of vandalism... The porcelain urinal was slightly chipped in the attack and was withdrawn to be restored... Mr. Pinoncelli, 77, who urinated into the same urinal and struck it with a hammer in a show in Nîmes in 1993, has a long record of organizing bizarre happenings. Police officials said he again called his action a work of art, a tribute to Duchamp and other Dada artists." The New York Times 01/07/06
Is what Mr. Pinoncelli did really wrong - as it fits within the Dadaist movement? Plus the guy is 77, so its kinda like he deserves a "get-out-of-jail-free" card. Twelve years ago, when his peers in the USA were applying for Social Security, this fella is "giving closure" to Duchamp's sculpture by urinating in it (which I believe to be a better artistic statement than just beating the thing with a hammer). So, hammer or not, by returning to the work when he is 77, he obviously feels some sort of need to make an artistic statement.
On a side-note... I always preferred "Nude Descending the Stairs" over "Fountain", so I wasn't really offended by his actions. - DN
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2 comments:
There's a weird kind of symmetry to this story, a kind of return to function over form if you will.
I wonder, since the Dada was sometimes called anti-art, does that make his assault on the 'Fountain' anti-anti-art?
I recently read that "Fountain" is worth around $3.2 million. So maybe it was a statement to return the presence of the sculpture to the realm of "anti-art". I wonder if Duchamp would be amused or disgusted that his "statement" now has a value in the millions - a value that most definately classifies it (by default, mind you) as art.-DN
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