Corporate Governance

Uncommon Goods

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It has been a productive challenge to write an introductory book on contemporary readymade practices that would appeal to a broad and critical audience. Despite its accruing history and heavily validated art historical pedigree, the readymade can still be mystifying to art viewers. I wanted to write a book that would address this—not by simply rehashing its history with new little twists, but by grappling with what I see as the very fundamental hurdle to understanding the readymade as a valid aesthetic form. That hurdle is simply this: As a commodity, an object is presented as transparent. It is what it is and has an apparently obvious function. Either buy it or don’t. In an art frame, that same object is often met with non-comprehension, if not a deep suspicion toward the artist who is seen to be pulling one over on the audience by presenting it as “art.” In other words, all a urinal salesman has to do is sell urinals. An artist who raises questions about the aesthetic condition of that urinal has a much harder task—both in the sense of explaining why the inquiry is necessary, and in the sense of engaging the aesthetic to speak of the political, social, and economic implications of that urinal’s very existence.
Marcel Duchamp found this conundrum impossibly delicious, and deeply resonant with the technological age. He played the provocateur to great effect, even when he seemed to revert to the role of the traveling salesman (Marchand du Sel), who packed up his finely hand-crafted miniature readymade multiples in his green valise. The artists included in this book have endeavored to expand upon Duchamp’s initial moves and pose even more pointed questions about the contemporary commodity in aesthetic form. I have endeavored to find an equally complex, and hopefully useful, guide to introducing their delicate maneuverings.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Uncommon Goods

Call Number

-

Publisher

USA : Intellect Ltd., 2013

Collation

1-224

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

978-1-78320-079-5

Classification

NONE

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

1st Edtion

Subject(s)

Governance

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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