David Platzker

On this day in history, May 12, 2019, Marcel Duchamp was included in the exhibition “Another Music in a Different Kitchen : Studio Recordings & Records by Artists” organized by Bob Nickas, and Matt Shuster, held at Karma Bookstore, in New York City. Seen here is the risographed exhibition catalogue published in conjunction with the show, with a transcription of a conversation between Nickas and Shuster. Artists / bands additionally included in the exhibition included: A Band, Vito Acconci/New Humans, Rita Ackermann/Jutta Koether, Richard Aldrich, Kai Althoff, Art & Language with the Red Crayola, Darren Bader, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Thomas Bayrle/Bernhard Schreiner, David Bellingham, Harry Bertoia, Carol Bove, Luke Calzonetti/Albert Oehlen, Bonnie Camplin, Rutherford Chang, Billy Childish, Tony Conrad with Faust, Tony Conrad/Angus Maclise/Jack Smith, Bjorn Copeland, Martin Creed, Hanne Darboven, Vaginal Davis, Jeremy Deller, Destroy All Monsters, DJ Sid with Sylvie Fleury, Jean Dubuffet, Mark Flood, Forcefield, Terry Fox, Katharina Fritsch, Poul Gernes, John Giorno/Ugo Rondinone, Jack Goldstein, Kim Gordon, Rodney Graham, Richard Hamilton and Dieter Roth, James Hoff, Lonnie Holley, Arthur Jafa, Chris Johanson, Allan Kaprow, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Christopher Knowles, Jutta Koether/Steven Parrino, William Leavitt, Mark Leckey, Le Tigre (Sadie Benning, Johanna Fateman, Kathleen Hanna), Servane Mary, Adam McEwen, Paul McMahon, Jason Moran, Bruce Nauman, Dennis Oppenheim, Kristin Oppenheim, Virginia Overton, Charlemagne Palestine, Steven Parrino, Oliver Payne/Brian Degraw, Raymond Pettibon, Policeband, Seth Price, Stephen Prina, Richard Prince, RAMMELZEE, Lee Ranaldo and Leah Singer, Allen Ruppersberg, Jim Shaw, Xaviera Simmons, Steven Stapleton, Wolfgang Tillmans, Cosey Fanni Tutti, UJ3RK5 (Rodney Graham, Jeff Wall, Ian Wallace), Andra Ursuta, Don van Vliet, Lawrence Weiner, David Wojnarowicz, B. Wurtz, XXX Macarena (Tony Conrad, Jutta Koether, John Miller), and Y Pants.

Around this day in history, May 11, 1990, “Marcel Duchamp, or The Phynancier of Modern Life,” by Thierry de Duve, was published in October no. 52. Edited by Joan Copjec, Rosalind Krauss, Annette Michelson, and Terri L. Cafaro, this issue also included the essays “The Temptation of New Perspectives,” by Stephen Melville; “The Kinetic Icon in the Work of Mourning: Prolegomena to the Analysis of a Textual System,” by Annette Michelson; “Bachelors,” by Rosalind Krauss; “Documentary Is / Not a Name,” by Trinh T. Minh-ha. “In New York, in April 1917, a so-called R. Mutt submits a urinal titled Fountain to the hanging committee (of which Duchamp was president) of the newly created Society of Independent Artists, Incorporated. The Society, whose motto was “no jury, no prizes,” was open on principle to everyone: the membership card cost a dollar, the annual dues, five. For this modest sum, and on the additional condition of showing the year of his joining up, the little nobody became, in a certain sense, a stockholder of the Société Anonyme (the name would be used by Duchamp in 1920 for the collection he created with Katherine Dreier) from which, on the whole, all American artists exposed to the ostracism of the National Academy hoped to receive dividends. Behold, then, this little nobody who is simultaneously a small-time capitalist in an enterprise licensed to deal in art (the exhibited works were for sale) and an independent artisan otherwise invited to display his know-how. Marcel Duchamp shared this double status with the thousand or so self-proclaimed artists who participated in the 1917 exhibition, with the qualification that he played on one side as on the other an ascendant role. On the stockholders’ side, he was one of the twenty founding members and president of the hanging committee to boot; on the artisans’ side, he was recognized for his talent as a painter, being the creator of the highly celebrated Nude Descending a Staircase…”—from de Duve’s text

Around this day in history, May 10, 1986, “Marcel Duchamp: The Readymade and the Tube of Paint, Still Unraveling,” by Thierry de Duve was published in Artforum. Seen here is the issue edited by Ingrid Sischy, which included additional essays “On Location: Balancing Bigger and Smaller, Alberto Burri’s Studio,” by Ida Panicelli; “Modern Life: Close Encounters with Unidentified Flying Zeitgeists,” by Carter Ratcliff; “Turned Out: Biology 101 invades Art History 407. The Canary Graduates, with Flying Colors,” by William Wilson; “Remote Control: Private Eyes and their Parts. Prime-time Sex Crimes,” by Barbara Kruger; “Like Art: Smoke Signals,” by Glenn O’Brien; “Speaker to Speaker: The Substance of Nobody’s Voice,” by Greil Marcus; “Object. Kohei Sugiura: Contemporary Offerings to the Shrine of the Book,” by Seigow Matsuoka; “Books: An Afterword to ‘Inside the White Cube,’” by Brian O’Doherty; “Standing in the Shadow: Crisscrossing Culture’s Compass, the Art and Ideas of Tatsumi Hijikata, William Klein, Daido Moriyama, Min Tanaka, and Shuji Terayama Draw an Other Map,” by Mark Holborn; “Ronald Bladen from X to Now: Light-Struck Sculpture,” by Ronny Cohen; “Dreaming Awake: Albert Hien’s Upside-Down World,” by Annelie Pohlen; “The Colors of Dirt: How Lovis Corinth’s Painting, Unclassifiable in its Time, Matters Today,” by Klaus Fussmann; “On the Riverbank: Project for Artforum,” by Salvo with a note by Lisa Licitra Ponti; “Of Art and Language: The Museum and the Harrowing Machine,” by Donald Kuspit; “Hic Jacet Beuys: Fat, a Knapsack, Felt; the Hareskin Coat, the Cymbals. Artifacts of Life,” by Thomas McEvilley. Reviews by Donald Kuspit, Ronny Cohen, Thomas McEvilley, John Yau, Ida Panicelli, Annelie Pohlen, Carlo McCormick, Jeanne Silverthorne, Jean Fisher, John Yau, Patricia C. Phillips, Suzaan Boettger, John Howell, Bill Berkson, Kenneth Baker, Colin Gardner, Susan Freudenheim, Ed Hill, Suzanne Bloom, Mason Riddle, Colin Westerbeck, Pier Luigi Tazzi, Max Wechsler, Wolfgang Max Faust, Paul Groot, and Barbara Maestri. Cover art by David McDermott and Peter McGough.

On this day in history, May 9, 1974, Marcel Duchamp was included in the exhibition “Words Work,” held at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California. Seen here is the catalogue for the show with text by the show’s curator, Jessica Jacobs. Additional artists include dTerry Allen, Carl Andre, Eleanor Antin, Arakawa, David Askevold, S. Bakazan, John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Chris Burden, Daniel Buren, Susan Davis, Doug Debber, Agnes Denes, Doug Edge, Jim Edson, Gerald Ferguson, Hamish Fulton, Walt Gabrielson, Art Gangster, Gilbert & George, Virginia Gordon, James Hayward, George Herms, Lyn Horton, Douglas Huebler, Robert Indiana, Mary Jack Jagger, Marcel Janco, Jasper Johns, Allan Kaprow, Claude Kent, Ed Kienholz, John Knight, Joseph Kosuth, Lili Lauritano, Lili Lakich, Mark Langan, John Lees, Sol LeWitt, Lloyd Gary, Peter Clothier, Richard Long, Jay Maddox, George Miller, Michael Mollet, Matt Mullican, Renee Nahum, Bruce Nauman, Amy de Neergaard, Shirley Pettibone, Adrian Piper, Mel Ramos, Tony Ramos, Cliff Roman, Allen Ruppersberg, Ed Ruscha, David Salle, Jeff Sanders, Ilene Segalove, Willougby Sharp, Howard Smagula, Alexis Smith, Susan Starbird, Robert Tanneberger, Bart Thrall, Ger van Elk, Andy Warhol, Lawrence Weiner, Jim Welling, Jimmy West, William Wiley, Ian Wilson, Wynne Wolfe, Joseph Young, Roland Reiss, Blanca Bann, Fidel Danieli, General Idea, Dan Graham, Bia Lowe, Frank Schweitzer, and Barry Singer.

On this day in history, May 8, 1993, Marcel Duchamp was included in the exhibition “American Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture, 1913 - 1993” held at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin. The show would later travel to the Royal Academy of Arts and the Saatchi Gallery, London. Seen here is the catalogue for the show, edited and with essays by Christos M. Joachimides, Norman Rosenthal, with coordinating editing by David Anfam. Additional essays by Brooks Adams, Richard Armstrong, John Beardsley, Neal Benezra, Achille Bonito Oliva, Arthur C. Danto, Abraham A. Davidson, Wolfgang Max Faust, Mary Emma Harris, Thomas Kellein, Donald Kuspit, Mary Lublin, Karal Ann Marling, Barbara Moore, Francis V. O’Connor, Stephen Polcari, Carter Ratcliff, Irving Sandler, Wieland Schmied, Peter Selz, Gail Stavitsky, and Douglas Tallack. Additional artists in the show included Carl Andre, Richard Artschwager, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jonathan Borofsky, James Lee Byars, Alexander Calder, John Chamberlain, Joseph Cornell, John Covert, Stuart Davis, Willem de Kooning, Charles Demuth, Arthur Dove, Dan Flavin, Sam Francis, Robert Gober, Arshile Gorky, Dan Graham, Philip Guston, David Hammons, Keith Haring, Marsden Hartley, Eva Hesse, Gary Hill, Jenny Holzer, Edward Hopper, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Mike Kelley, Ellsworth Kelly, Franz Kline, Jeff Koons, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Mangold, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Robert Morris, Gerald Murphy, Bruce Nauman, Barnett Newman, Georgia O’Keeffe, Claes Oldenburg, Jackson Pollock, Martin Puryear, Robert Rauschenberg, Man Ray, Ad Reinhardt, James Rosenquist, Mark Rothko, Edward Ruscha, Robert Ryman, Julian Schnabel, Richard Serra, Charles Sheeler, Cindy Sherman, David Smith, Frank Stella, Clyfford Still, James Turrell, Cy Twombly, Bill Viola, Andy Warhol, and Lawrence Weiner.

On this day in history, May 7, 2009, Marcel Duchamp was included in the show “A GUEST + A HOST = A GHOST : Dakis Joannou Collection” held at the Deste Foundation in Athens, Greece. The title is drawn from a Duchamp wordplay. Seen here is the artist’s book / exhibition catalogue edited and designed by Josh Smith and Todd Amicon published in conjunction with show. It accompanied the exhibition and expanded the show by introducing a new interpretation of the collection in book form – another guest, another ghost. “Borrowing its title from one of Marcel Duchamp’s aphorisms, A GUEST + A HOST = A GHOST is constructed as a series of solo exhibitions, many of which have been conceived and installed by the participating artists themselves. A comprehensive presentation of some of the artists that Dakis Jouannou has been collecting in depth over the past few years, A GUEST + A HOST = A GHOST showcases ambitious works, signature pieces, and new productions by: Pawel Althamer, Maurizio Cattelan, Paul Chan, Nathalie Djurberg, Marcel Duchamp, Urs Fischer, Robert Gober, Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, Seth Price, Gregor Schneider, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, Andro Wekua, and Franz West. In a series of symbiotic encounters and parasitic relationships, the solo presentations are often interrupted by incongruous presences or perturbed by unusual juxtapositions: drawings by Kara Walker surround a tomb by Urs Fischer; Maurizio Cattelan’s homeless man kneels down in front of Kiki Smith’s Bat Woman; Robert Gober’s haunted rooms incorporate Gregor Schneider’s architectural fragments; Seth Price’s vacuum figures face off a work by Jeff Koons. Each artwork turns into the ghostly reflection of its neighbor, making it impossible to distinguish hosts from guests, friendly creatures from menacing shadows. The exhibition is organized by the Deste Foundation with Massimiliano Gioni as curatorial advisor.” — from the book’s foreword. Text in English. In 2010, this publication was named the Specific Object Publication of the Year.

On this day in history, May 6, 1989, Marcel Duchamp was included in “The Avant-Garde Book 1900 - 1945,” a show held at Franklin Furnace in New York City. Seen here is the exhibition catalogue, with text by Jaroslav Andel. Additional artists featured in the exhibition include: Guillaume Apollinaire, Jean Arp, Hugo Ball, Ernst Barlach, Herbert Bayer, Henryk Berlewi, Pierre-Albert Birot, William Blake, Georges Braque, André Breton, David Burliuk, Vladimir Burliuk, Paolo Buzzi, Francesco Canguillo, Josef Capek, Carlo Carrà, Blaise Cendrars, Giorgio de Chirico, Tullio d’Albisola, Salvador Dali, Sonia Delaunay, Fortunato Depero, André Derain, Paul Eluard, Max Ernst, Conrad Felixmüller, Pavel Filonov, Paul Gauguin, Natalia Goncharova, Werner Gräff, Juan Gris, Georg Grosz, Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, Richard Huelsenbeck, Georges Hugnet, Iliazd (Ilia Zdanevich), Max Jacob, Marcel Janco, Alfred Jarry, Frantisek Kalivoda, Wassily Kandinsky, Lajos Kassak, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Gustav Klutsis, Oskar Kokoschka, Alexei Kruchenykh, Alfred Kubin, Mikhail Larionov, Fernand Léger, El Lissitzky, René Magritte, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Kasimir Malevich, Stéphane Mallarmé, Fillipo Tomasso Marinetti, Frans Masereel, André Masson, Ludwig Meidner, E.L.T. Mesens, Ljubomir Micic, Joan Miró, László Moholy-Nagy, Vítezslav Nezval, Roland Penrose, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Heinz & Bodo Rash, Man Ray, Odilon Redon, Hans Richter, Alexander Rodchenko, Zdenek Rossmann, Olga Rozanova, Kurt Schwitters, Ardegno Soffici, Laurence Sterne, Wladislaw Strzeminski, Jindrich Styrsky, Léopold Survage, Ladislav Sutnar, Yves Tanguy, Karel Teige, Solomon Telingater, Jan Tschichold, Tristan Tzara, Josef Váchal, Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, and Piet Zwart.

On this day in history, May 5, 1964, Marcel Duchamp contributed an essay for this Francis Picabia catalogue published by Galleria Schwarz in Milan, Italy. “Picabia’s career is a kaleidoscopic series of art experiences. They are hardly related one to another in their external appearances, but all are definitely marked by a strong personality. In his fifty years of painting Picabia has constantly avoided adhering to any formula or wearing a badge. He could be called the greatest exponent of freedom in art, not only against academic slarery, but also against slavery to any given dogma. As a lad of fourteen he joined the Impressionists and showed a great talent a 3 young follower of an already old movement. About 1912 his first personal contribution as an artist was based on the possibilities of a non-figurative art. He was a pioneer in this field alongside Mondrian, Kupka, and Kandinsky. Between 1917 and 1924 the Dada Movement, in itself a metaphysical attempt towards irrationalism, offered little scope for painting. Yet Picabia in his paintings of that period showed great affinity with the Dada spirit…”— from Duchamp’s text

On this day in history, May 4, 1991, Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain” was appropriated by Sherrie Levine for works in her show “Fountain,” which opened that day at Mary Boone Gallery in New York City. Seen here is the exhibition catalogue/artist’s book published in conjunction with the show. The publication is something of a parody of the book “Marcel Duchamp: Fountain,” [The Menil Collection, Houston, 1989] in both content and design. The Levine title includes an introduction by Bruce Ferguson, color reproductions of Levine’s Fountains, paintings based on Yves Klein, and an extensive biography/bibliography.

On this day in history, May 3, 1961, Marcel Duchamp’s film “Aneamic Cinema” was shown as part of “Ten Films by Painters 1921 - 1961” held at Gallery Mayer in New York City. Seen here is the program for the screening, which also included included “Rythmus 21” by Hans Richter, “Symphonie Diagonale” by Viking Eggeling, “Ballet Mechanique” by Fernand Leger, “Etoile Der Mer” by Man Ray, “Musical Poster #1” by Len Lye, “Film Exercise #4” by John and James Whitney, “1941” by Francis Lee, “Science Friction” by Stan Vanderbeek, and “Blazes” by Robert Breer.

On this day in history, May 2, 1977, Marcel Duchamp’s retrospective exhibition at Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris closed. Seen here is the four-volume exhibition catalogue/catalogue raisonné, “L’Œuvre de Marcel Duchamp,” published on the occasion of the show. The publication includes a biographie / chronologie, catalogue raissoné, Abécédaire / Aproches Critiques, and Victor/Duchamp. The “Biographie/Chronologie" volume features a preface by Pontus Hulten, and a chronology compiled by Jennifer Gough-Cooper and Jacques Caumont; "Catalogue" prepared by Jean Clair with source images, bibliography, and index; "abécédaire" featuring texts by Jean Clair, Ulf Linde, Carl Frédéric Reuterswärd, Robert Lebel, Thierry de Duve, Georges Raillard, and an index; and "Victor (Marcel Duchamp), H.P Roche," with text by Danielle Régnier-Bohler and with a preface and notes by Jean Clair, maquette by Jean Toche.