Ready Made

The installation of my film in the studio is coming along well, with today possibly being the biggest leap forwards with the addition of the all important toilet. After trying to locate a toilet in various ways, somewhat unsuccessfully, I was at a bit of a loss when the toilet I had hoped to get today from a friends next door neighbour did not arrive. Fortunately after seeking advice on where to find a toilet from art technician Martin I was able to simply walk over to the plumbing department of college, and very soon walk back with a toilet courtesy of the plumbing technician. Technician seem to be very good at doing things simply and quickly with no nonsense.

There is a rather interesting relationship between the bathroom and the art gallery. perhaps due to the somewhat taboo subjects of the bodily functions that go on in them playing into the hands of the artist who seeks to shock, the stigma of the art gallery and the art gallery patron's ability to be shocked.


largely considered the first significant piece of porcelain to enter an art gallery was Marcell Duchamp's Fountain in 1917, though technically the original was rejected from the exhibition originally submitted to and then lost. It demonstrated the idea of the Readymade very well, showing boldly the idea that any item can be a piece of art. But I think it is also important to remember with this work that it is also kinda funny. a joke. The name of the piece, Fountain, suggests a different use for the object, a use we clearly know it does not have. Indeed Duchamp could have used any object as a ready made, but he opted for the urinal, a staple of toilet humour, yet somehow elegant in its form.


Later on in the course of history Italian artist Piero Manzoni.Piero Manzoni Artist's Shit 1961" vspace="2" width="243" align="right" border="0" height="256" hspace="4"> Took things that bit further, canning his own excrement in 90 can to be sold, the idea being that,

"if collectors want something intimate, really personal to the artist, there's the artist's own shit, that is really his.'

Again I feel it is important to remember how funny this stunt is, the punchline coming from the art world, as cans where indeed sold for fairly high prices. an added piece of irony is that is it now debated whether the can do actually even contain "the artist shit" at all.

an interesting article on the work can be found here.
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=27330&searchid=16857&tabview=text