Man held for hitting Duchamp's urinal work

[Merlion]

Interesting sculpture news from a BBC report of 6 Jan.

I find it interesting that this man urinated on the same piece in 1993. And he said his hammer attack was a work of performance art that Duchamp himself would have appreciated.

It is also interesting that this replica of the 1917 original is believed to be worth some 3m euros (2m GBP). Gosh, for a replica, that requires turning a urinal up on its back, and writing a few words with black marker !

Man held for hitting urinal work

A 77-year-old Frenchman has spent a night in custody in Paris after attacking a plain porcelain urinal considered to be a major artwork.

The urinal - called Fountain - was slightly chipped after the man hit it with a hammer on Wednesday.

The piece by French-US artist Marcel Duchamp was on display at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

Police said the man had urinated on the same piece at an exhibition in Nimes, southern France, in 1993.

The work, a replica of the 1917 original , is on display as part of a wider Dada exhibition, is believed to be worth some 3m euros (£2m).

Police said the man claimed the hammer attack was a work of performance art that Marcel Duchamp himself would have appreciated.

Taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4587988.stm

[ottojo]

Regarding the value of the Duchamps piece,

one has to remember that this piece stands as one of the major Icon's of modern art and sculpture, lots of great mouvements in todays art and American art can be traced back to this work;

conceptuel and neo-conceptuel art,
minimal art,
performance art ( J. Beuys), etc.....
political art against bourgeois-art, just nice fun decoration that looks good with the curtains, this does not!

Why a major piece of art?

Because it asks questions in a new way, and lots of them....and difficult ones.

How do we regarde sculpture as art, as commodities .......?
Sculpture and the probleme of the base .......?
What turns an object into a work of art?
Is it the fact, that the artist says....... it is a work of art?
What is beauty,what is form, what is meaning of art and sculpture today?
Do we just make more stuff!

Etc, those questions and many more where asked again by Duchamp.
And his actions made generations of artists look with a fresch eye at there art.

That this work of art is expensive has nothing to do with the art itself .....it is just the law of ....supplie's and demande.
Lots of people, collectors and museums would love to own one!
That simple.

And the fact that it is still fresch, disturbing and alive after all this time and has not turned into another antiquitie after all this time makes it even better!

Take care,
JC

[sculptor]

a urinal is a urinal is a urinal

piss in it not on it

I once had a bottle drying rack-----
a lovely young art history phd candidate from Taipei praised it's artistic lines and seemed enchanted by it, so i gave it her

It has journied many a millenarian mile and resides with her in Taiwan now
I suspect that she doesn't use it to dry washed wine bottles as had I.

Eye of the beholder indeed.

looks like a drain hole in the front of the urinal-------I wonder----
¿If one were to piss in that urinal, would the urinal return the compliment?

curiouser and curiouser

sculptor (http://sculpture.alturl.com)

[Merlion]

One of my points is that it is so easy to make a replica of this Duchamp urinal artwork. Virtually anybody can do it.

I just wonder. How can an 'expert' judge whether one is a genuine Duchamp replica (that is worth a few millions dollars), or an unauthorised 'forged' reproduction.

[philpraxis]

Regarding the value of the Duchamps piece,
[...]
What turns an object into a work of art?
Is it the fact, that the artist says....... it is a work of art?

JC
you said it! :)

well.... yeah, on the event, i personnally accept this act as a perfect new scene into the show "Art and Business in the roaring zerooees". But for sure, even if it would please a lot both Duchamp and Debord, the actual business people which are studied by the said pieces have reasons to feel threatened by such act.

cheers