Duchamp and the Aesthetics of Chance: Art as Experiment (Columbia Themes in Philosophy, Social Criticism, and the Arts)

Marcel Duchamp is often viewed as an "artist-engineer-scientist," a kind of rationalist who relied heavily on the ideas of the French mathematician and philosopher Henri Poincaré. Yet a complete portrait of Duchamp and his multiple influences draws a different picture. In his __3 Standard Stoppages__ (1913-1914), a work that uses chance as an artistic medium, we see how far Duchamp subverted scientism in favor of a radical individualistic aesthetic and experimental vision. Unlike the Dadaists, Duchamp did more than dismiss or negate the authority of science. He pushed scientific rationalism to the point where its claims broke down and alternative truths were allowed to emerge. With humor and irony, Duchamp undertook a method of artistic research, reflection, and visual thought that focused less on beauty than on the notion of the "possible." He became a passionate advocate of the power of invention and thinking things that had never been thought before. The __3 Standard Stoppages__ is the ultimate realization of the play between chance and dimension, visibility and invisibility, high and low art, and art and anti-art. Situating Duchamp firmly within the literature and philosophy of his time, Herbert Molderings recaptures the spirit of a frequently misread artist-and his thrilling aesthetic of chance.

Marcel Duchamp is often viewed as an "artist-engineer-scientist," a kind of rationalist who relied heavily on the ideas of the French mathematician and philosopher Henri Poincaré. Yet a complete portrait of Duchamp and his multiple influences draws a different picture. In his 3 Standard Stoppages (1913-1914), a work that uses chance as an artistic medium, we see how far Duchamp subverted scientism in favor of a radical individualistic aesthetic and experimental vision.

Unlike the Dadaists, Duchamp did more than dismiss or negate the authority of science. He pushed scientific rationalism to the point where its claims broke down and alternative truths were allowed to emerge. With humor and irony, Duchamp undertook a method of artistic research, reflection, and visual thought that focused less on beauty than on the notion of the "possible." He became a passionate advocate of the power of invention and thinking things that had never been thought before.

The 3 Standard Stoppages is the ultimate realization of the play between chance and dimension, visibility and invisibility, high and low art, and art and anti-art. Situating Duchamp firmly within the literature and philosophy of his time, Herbert Molderings recaptures the spirit of a frequently misread artist-and his thrilling aesthetic of chance.

Columbia University Press

The idea of the fabrication -- The 3 standard stoppages in the context of the large glass. The pane of glass as a materialized plane intersecting the visual pyramid -- Depersonalizing straight lines. The thread as a metaphor of the visual ray -- The 3 standard stoppages as paintings. Gravity and line : the "rephysicalization" of the ideal straight -- Duchamp's application of the new standard measures -- Painting of chance. Art as an experiment -- 1936 : Duchamp transforms the painting into an experimental setup. On the title : Roussel's "method"--An excursion into the world of shop signs and windows -- Humorous application of non-Euclidean geometry. A brief digression on Tu m' -- The crisis of the scientific concept of truth -- Pataphysics, chance, and the aesthetics of the possible -- Radical individualism The idea of the fabrication The 3 standard stoppages in the context of the large glass. The pane of glass as a materialized plane intersecting the visual pyramid Depersonalizing straight lines. The thread as a metaphor of the visual ray The 3 standard stoppages as paintings. Gravity and line : the "rephysicalization" of the ideal straight Duchamp's application of the new standard measures Painting of chance. Art as an experiment 1936 : Duchamp transforms the painting into an experimental setup. On the title : Roussel's "method" An excursion into the world of shop signs and windows Humorous application of non-Euclidean geometry. A brief digression on Tu m' The crisis of the scientific concept of truth Pataphysics, chance, and the aesthetics of the possible Radical individualism. Contents 8 Illustrations 10 Introduction 12 1 20 2 26 3 52 4 82 5 102 6 118 7 136 8 152 Notes 164 Bibliography 212 Index 230 Columbia Themes in Philosophy, Social Criticism, and the Arts 234