ILLUSIONARY CAST

The Rebus, part 2

Oslo, 2020

The stonified chair with matching sneakers. Two objects I have altered, giving them a concrete cover. They both lost some of their functions during the process. You can still sit on the chair, but it will be harsh on clothes. You can still wear the shoes, but they will not let your feet move freely. A rebus of preserved nowness.

The term readymade was first used by French artist Marcel Duchamp in 1913, to describe the works of art made from manufactured objects. The theory behind the readymade has been explained in an anonymous editorial published in the May 1917 issue of avant-garde magazine The Blind Man run by amongst others Duchamp himself:

“Whether Mr Mutt with his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life, and placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view – created a new thought for that object.”

Further, readymades were given these three criterias: first, that the choice of object is itself a creative act. Secondly, that by cancelling the ‘useful’ function of an object it becomes art. Thirdly, that the presentation and addition of a title to the object have given it ‘a new thought’, a new meaning.

Ironically, within fashion especially; by the end of the nineteenth century the term ‘ready-made’ has been used to describe objects that are manufactured as opposed to being handmade.