Marcel Duchamp’s readymades are an unmistakably radical gesture in the history of modern art. First produced in 1913, the readymades were, for the artist, “a form of denying the possibility of defining art.” Today, the readymade—as both an object and as an idea—has been so integrated into artistic strategy and discourse that the idea is a readymade itself. “It is what it is. Or is it?” attempts to recuperate a sense of the radicality of Duchamp’s gesture and to update dialogues around the notion of the readymade, thinking of them less as static objects than as active processes of articulating thought. Artists today use the simple materiality and economy of means conveyed by the form to address a diversity of social, political, aesthetic, and temporal issues. It is what it is. Or is it? is organized by Dean Daderko, Curator at CAMH, and marks his curatorial debut at the Museum.
Participating artists include Ellen Altfest, Fayçal Baghriche, Bill Bollinger, Chto delat/What is to be done?, William Cordova, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Latifa Echakhch, Daphne Fitzpatrick, Claire Fontaine, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Rachel Hecker, Jamie Isenstein, Luis Jacob, Patrick Killoran, Jiri Kovanda, Klara Lidén, Catherine Murphy, and Pratchaya Phinthong.
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at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH), Texas
until July 29, 2012
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Bill Bollinger, Evergreen Joe Hemmis, 1970/2011
William Cordova, laberintos (pa’ octavio paz y gaspar yanga), 2003-09
© William Cordova; Courtesy: Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York
Luis Jacob, Album VIII (detail), 2009
Courtesy: the artist and Birch Libralato, Toronto
Daphne Fitzpatrick, PROLONGING THE LIFE OF YOUR CHEESE, 2012
Courtesy: the artist and American Contemporary, New York
Rachel Hecker, Jesus #1 (Viggo Mortensen/Lord of the Rings), 2011
Courtesy: the artist and Texas Gallery, Houston
Abraham Cruzvillegas, Autorretrato embarazado y mascando pepitas, 2012
Courtesy: the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City
Latifa Echakhch, Globus, 2007
Courtesy: the artist and Kamel Mennour
Claire Fontaine, Untitled (Prière de Toucher), 2011
Courtesy: the artist and Metro Pictures, New York
Jamie Isenstein, Smoking Pipe, 2006
Courtesy: the artist and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
Klara Liden, 180˚ Wall Piece, 2012
Courtesy: the artist
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Photo: Paul Hester
