[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:01.51,0:00:04.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(lively music)
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.93,0:00:06.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: We wanted to talk about Marcel Duchamp
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.33,0:00:09.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we're looking at a really famous painting
Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.33,0:00:10.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of his that caused a huge scandal.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.80,0:00:16.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's called "Nude Descending a Staircase 2," and it dates to 1912.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.39,0:00:18.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was shown, if I remember correctly,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.88,0:00:20.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the Armory exhibition in New York,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:20.98,0:00:24.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the press just made wild fun of it.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.95,0:00:28.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course, what we're seeing is this kind of funny Cubism
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.56,0:00:32.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's linked to the way in which the Futurists thought of Cubism,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.50,0:00:34.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that is really about the issue of motion itself -
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.67,0:00:39.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the movement of the planes of space as the figure is moving down.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.27,0:00:42.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It has a wonderful mechanical quality.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.66,0:00:43.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some art historians have looked at it
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.81,0:00:46.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and said that this was involved with strobe photography
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.39,0:00:48.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and influenced by some of those ideas.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.96,0:00:51.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nevertheless, it's still a painting.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.79,0:00:55.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: It still fits within that tradition of painting
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.11,0:00:57.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that really begins in the Renaissance,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.54,0:01:00.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and continues pretty much unabated for 500 years.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.37,0:01:04.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's right!, and we would call this avant-garde, but it's still oil paint.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.77,0:01:05.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's on canvas.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.88,0:01:06.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's made by hand.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.80,0:01:07.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's made by the artist.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.96,0:01:10.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's rendered and so, you're right.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.22,0:01:14.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's still very firmly embedded in this very old tradition.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.13,0:01:15.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How radical is that?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.45,0:01:20.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's 1912; let's see what happens just a year later.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.59,0:01:23.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's two objects made into one.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.34,0:01:27.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's an assisted ready-made, as Duchamp will later call them.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.82,0:01:31.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's called "Bicycle Wheel," and it's a bicycle wheel
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.93,0:01:35.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and [headset] and fork that's been stuck into a hole
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.03,0:01:37.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's been drilled into the top of a stool.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.76,0:01:43.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Duchamp has taken these two ready-made objects in 1913,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.17,0:01:47.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stuck them together and asked us to look at them
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.21,0:01:49.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at them in a very different way than we would have looked
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.83,0:01:51.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at them before he had done this.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.69,0:01:53.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: I'm going to say what I think
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.03,0:01:56.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a lot of people feel when they look at this,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.25,0:01:57.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is -
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.10,0:01:58.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: How is this art?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.11,0:01:58.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: Yes.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.11,0:01:59.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: I think in a funny way, we're going
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.74,0:02:01.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to come back to your question, "How is this art?"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.93,0:02:03.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we're going to find the answer
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.39,0:02:05.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the very question you're asking.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.24,0:02:09.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What I mean to say is Duchamp is asking us
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.57,0:02:12.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to think about how we define what a work of art is.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.45,0:02:16.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The very act of questioning becomes a part of the content.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.43,0:02:17.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, there's more here.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.86,0:02:20.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the things that I think Duchamp wants us
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.23,0:02:23.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to think about is what it is that we want from a work of art.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.25,0:02:25.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: Why is that an important question?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.01,0:02:26.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: I think it's a question
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.26,0:02:27.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's been asked throughout the avant-garde.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.93,0:02:29.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let's go back to Manet for a moment.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.55,0:02:33.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Manet's rejecting the clarity, the precision
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.87,0:02:37.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the academic tradition of the salon, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.27,0:02:40.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He's forcing us to be aware of the roughness
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.39,0:02:42.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the physicality of his paint,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.73,0:02:44.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even as he's rendering something,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.78,0:02:47.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as opposed to creating something that's more transparent.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.05,0:02:51.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even Manet is starting to ask us,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.11,0:02:54.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Is art simply a kind of highly-proficient,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.87,0:02:57.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"technically perfect act of rendering?"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.85,0:03:01.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if it's simply skill, or must art also encompass,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.21,0:03:02.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and of course, all great art does,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:02.75,0:03:07.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a conceptual element, and what do we actually privilege?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.54,0:03:12.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,now, in the 20th century, when our culture - and this is, I think, a really critical point -
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.72,0:03:15.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our culture is not a culture of the hand-made.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.48,0:03:18.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our culture is now a culture of the mass-produced.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.63,0:03:22.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Painting, although it's beautiful and remains vital,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.15,0:03:24.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is in some ways really anachronistic.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.59,0:03:28.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We live in a society now where everything -
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.15,0:03:30.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,virtually everything - is mass-produced.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.18,0:03:34.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: And things that are unique and hand-produced are very, very rare.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.69,0:03:35.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: Those are the exceptions,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:35.87,0:03:37.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we privilege them because they are.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.19,0:03:40.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: But shouldn't art be special like that?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.24,0:03:43.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: Can art be special, but speak to our age -
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.99,0:03:48.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our age of mass-production, our age of factory-made object?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.59,0:03:52.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,During the 18th century, during the 17th century,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.43,0:03:55.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,making a painting by hand is making a painting
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.55,0:03:57.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the way we made virtually everything else.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.90,0:03:59.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Garments were made by hand.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.38,0:04:01.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Furniture was made by hand.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.17,0:04:04.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We live now in a culture where almost everything
Dialogue: 0,0:04:04.92,0:04:08.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is made by some sort of mechanical production.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.43,0:04:11.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Doesn't art have a responsibility, in order
Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.67,0:04:16.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to be legitimate, to actually reflect the reality of our moment,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.87,0:04:19.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even if it means that we're giving up something
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.61,0:04:22.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we have a kind of nostalgic love for?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.28,0:04:25.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When Duchamp takes this bicycle wheel,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.33,0:04:28.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which he didn't make, when he takes this stool
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.11,0:04:29.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that was made in a factory,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:29.27,0:04:31.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he puts them together, forcing us,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.60,0:04:33.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through almost a kind of alchemical process,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.87,0:04:38.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to transform these simple objects that we never really notice
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.47,0:04:41.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into something that is for the contemplative.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.61,0:04:43.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: Does that mean that one of the definitions
Dialogue: 0,0:04:43.30,0:04:48.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of art now is to make a [unintelligible] that were all around us anew?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:48.48,0:04:50.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: Matisse was once asked -
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.06,0:04:51.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this is a pretty famous quote -
Dialogue: 0,0:04:51.65,0:04:53.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he was once asked, "What makes a great artist?"
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.66,0:04:56.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Matisse's answer was, "A great artist
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.48,0:04:58.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"is someone who allows us to see the world
Dialogue: 0,0:04:58.37,0:05:00.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"in a way that we had never seen it before."
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.66,0:05:03.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, is art actually then the product
Dialogue: 0,0:05:03.28,0:05:05.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of somebody's technical skill?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:05.40,0:05:08.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is it a product of somebody's ability
Dialogue: 0,0:05:08.10,0:05:10.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to render, and how legitimate is that now
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.37,0:05:11.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the age of photography?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:11.76,0:05:15.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or, is art really embedded in the conceptual?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.67,0:05:17.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On the other hand, at the same time,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:17.74,0:05:20.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is absurd, and Duchamp loved that it was absurd.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:20.61,0:05:21.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is Dada.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:21.91,0:05:23.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a kind of anti-art.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:23.66,0:05:26.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's in some ways a very aggressive stance against art.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:26.30,0:05:27.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let's just go forward for a moment.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:27.80,0:05:29.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I want to show you something that's even more pure.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:29.57,0:05:31.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is, I think, fabulous.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.40,0:05:32.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is two years later.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:32.60,0:05:33.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is 1915.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:33.87,0:05:36.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Duchamp has gone to a hardware store,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.43,0:05:39.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,purchased a snow shovel, brought it back
Dialogue: 0,0:05:39.20,0:05:42.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to this studio, and decided that he would give it a name,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:42.62,0:05:45.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which will conjure up a whole sort of narrative.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:45.48,0:05:48.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's called, "In Advance of a Broken Arm."
Dialogue: 0,0:05:48.43,0:05:50.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He's taken this ready-made -
Dialogue: 0,0:05:50.23,0:05:51.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: You know, as soon as you said that,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:51.29,0:05:53.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had this vision of someone shoveling snow,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.68,0:05:56.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,out on the front stoop of their house.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:56.57,0:05:59.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: I continue that narrative.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:59.07,0:06:00.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I see that person slipping on the ice,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.73,0:06:01.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then breaking their arm.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:01.97,0:06:04.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What Duchamp has done is he said,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:04.40,0:06:05.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"This is not for use.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.14,0:06:06.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"This is now a narrative tool.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.78,0:06:09.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"We're constructing something that is
Dialogue: 0,0:06:09.60,0:06:11.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"to be thought of and looked at,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:11.26,0:06:12.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"as opposed to used."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:12.83,0:06:14.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, it's such an absurd object.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.98,0:06:16.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: We have some idea in our culture
Dialogue: 0,0:06:16.44,0:06:19.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that art is different from things that we use.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.89,0:06:23.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Art is not utilitarian, which is an odd thing to say
Dialogue: 0,0:06:23.19,0:06:25.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because to me, if we just go back
Dialogue: 0,0:06:25.36,0:06:26.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to medieval art, artists in the Renaissance -
Dialogue: 0,0:06:26.66,0:06:27.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: It's always utilitarian.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:27.74,0:06:29.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: It's always incredibly -
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.09,0:06:33.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It only becomes not utilitarian in the 19th or 18th century.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:33.86,0:06:36.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: Let's say that this snow shovel,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:36.35,0:06:38.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is very famous, this sculpture,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:38.47,0:06:40.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"In Advance of a Broken Arm," let's say
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.26,0:06:42.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it went up for auction at one of the big auction houses -
Dialogue: 0,0:06:42.43,0:06:43.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a Christie's, a Sotheby's, or something, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:06:43.76,0:06:46.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm guessing but let's say the opening bid
Dialogue: 0,0:06:46.64,0:06:48.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was one point five million dollars.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:48.34,0:06:51.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then, let's say this was taking place in New York,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:51.17,0:06:53.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you walk out of the showroom while the bidding was starting.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.47,0:06:55.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You walk over to Lexington Avenue and you buy yourself a snow shovel,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:55.96,0:06:58.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is, on the upper East Side, forty dollars.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.35,0:07:00.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Somehow, you get it past the guards
Dialogue: 0,0:07:00.51,0:07:01.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you walk back into the showroom,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.84,0:07:03.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you've got the very same snow shovel
Dialogue: 0,0:07:03.84,0:07:07.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's being auctioned off for one point five million dollars up on the stage.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:07.75,0:07:08.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is there a difference?
Dialogue: 0,0:07:08.68,0:07:10.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a really interesting issue and, actually,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.76,0:07:13.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that scenario that I just offered suggests
Dialogue: 0,0:07:13.01,0:07:16.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Duchamp failed, and let me explain.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:16.09,0:07:18.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Dada itself is embedded in the artist's reaction
Dialogue: 0,0:07:18.84,0:07:21.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,against the violence of the First World War, to some extent.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:21.37,0:07:23.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: And against the bourgeois culture.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:23.20,0:07:25.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: One of the indictments that the artist made
Dialogue: 0,0:07:25.44,0:07:28.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that art had been one of the props
Dialogue: 0,0:07:28.21,0:07:30.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by which bourgeois culture had maintained itself.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:30.64,0:07:33.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, remember the First World War was not fought
Dialogue: 0,0:07:33.12,0:07:34.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for ideological reasons.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:34.22,0:07:36.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was really fought largely for grief,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:36.34,0:07:38.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,national grief, personal grief, et cetera.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:38.40,0:07:41.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was unprecedented violence of the First World War.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.37,0:07:45.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have the Dada artists thinking about
Dialogue: 0,0:07:45.68,0:07:48.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how they can create an art that completely undermines
Dialogue: 0,0:07:48.90,0:07:52.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that notion of art helping to establish hierarchical status.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:52.87,0:07:54.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: Uh oh, but then it's being sold at Christie's.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:54.94,0:07:58.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: That's why I said, in a sense that would suggest
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.15,0:08:00.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Duchamp failed, but what Duchamp is
Dialogue: 0,0:08:00.30,0:08:02.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,trying to do is subvert capitalism, to some extent,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:02.29,0:08:03.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as it relates to art here.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:03.73,0:08:05.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That is to say Duchamp is saying,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:05.80,0:08:08.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"I'm going to make art out of something
Dialogue: 0,0:08:08.10,0:08:10.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"that is absolutely ordinary."
Dialogue: 0,0:08:10.13,0:08:12.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Can that be done?
Dialogue: 0,0:08:12.06,0:08:13.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Must art be singular and precious?
Dialogue: 0,0:08:13.93,0:08:16.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, you walk into somebody's house,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:16.24,0:08:17.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and if they have an original painting
Dialogue: 0,0:08:17.60,0:08:19.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by Picasso hanging on the wall,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:19.05,0:08:22.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that says a lot about their status in our society.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:22.14,0:08:24.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But if somebody has a snow shovel, maybe not.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:24.59,0:08:27.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is two years later again; this is 1917.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:27.42,0:08:30.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Another ready-made and, of course, it's a urinal -
Dialogue: 0,0:08:30.22,0:08:32.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: An upside-down urinal.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:32.56,0:08:34.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: Well, he takes it, he shifts it 90 degrees.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:34.56,0:08:38.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Duchamp actually submits it to an exhibition that was an unjuried show,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:38.44,0:08:41.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you have to remember that in the 19th and early 20 centures,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:41.70,0:08:44.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,many art exhibitions were juried and were relatively conservative.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:44.93,0:08:49.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here was what was supposed to be a radical organization
Dialogue: 0,0:08:49.28,0:08:51.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that was going to show anything and not have a juried exhibition.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:51.100,0:08:54.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Duchamp submits this and it's rejected.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:54.66,0:08:57.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: It looks like there's a signature on it.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:57.16,0:08:59.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: Well, he signed it, "R. Mutt,"
Dialogue: 0,0:08:59.18,0:09:02.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there's some theories about why he signs it, "R. Mutt."
Dialogue: 0,0:09:02.04,0:09:03.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: He seems like a very silly man.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:03.56,0:09:06.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: I think that there was a kind of ludicrousness to it,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:06.44,0:09:08.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I think he took a certain joy in the absurd.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:08.90,0:09:11.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's no question, and I think that that's pretty clear
Dialogue: 0,0:09:11.87,0:09:14.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the way he would present himself to the public,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.61,0:09:19.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,often in drag, representing his alter ego, Rrose Selavy.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:19.31,0:09:21.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: This is Duchamp himself.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:21.42,0:09:22.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: This is the artist himself.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:22.77,0:09:25.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: He's really just interested in play.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:25.39,0:09:27.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: He's interested in -
Dialogue: 0,0:09:27.28,0:09:30.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: In taking categories and subverting categories.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:30.62,0:09:32.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: In all kinds of play, visual play,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:32.71,0:09:35.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and also word play, which is embedded in a lot of his work,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:35.94,0:09:38.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a more literal kind of play.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:38.52,0:09:40.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Later in his life, he would reject art,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:40.93,0:09:43.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in fact, as an occupation, and said
Dialogue: 0,0:09:43.79,0:09:46.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he wanted to spend the rest of his life simply playing chess.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:46.44,0:09:51.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He would be lying, though, when he said he wouldn't make art any longer.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:51.69,0:09:55.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He made art, actually, until the end of his life, in secret.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:55.07,0:09:57.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: When you say, "making art,"
Dialogue: 0,0:09:57.29,0:10:00.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you don't actually mean making art.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:00.04,0:10:01.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Voiceover: Well, not painting, that's true.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:01.93,0:10:05.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(lively music)