A Dialogue on Creative Expression Between Duchamp and Sturtevant On view in Milan
By Silvia Beltrametti
Last September, Thaddaeus Ropac opened a gallery in Palazzo Belgioioso—a beautiful historic space in the beating heart of Milan’s Quadrilatero—with a three-day-long celebration. Ropac is the first major international contemporary art gallery to seek out a presence in Italy’s boom town. It’s a good match: Ropac represents more than 70 artists and estates that speak to all nationalities and tastes, and the ultra-rich have been flocking to Milan to take advantage of the generous tax deal the government is currently offering.
The latest exhibition, which opened this past week, is titled “Marcel Duchamp & Sturtevant: Dialogues are mostly fried snowballs.” The thought-provoking installation pairs the work of Marcel Duchamp, the father of conceptual art, and Elaine Sturtevant, the mother of appropriation art, in such a persuasive way that it feels impossible to escape its curation. It is Sturtevant who initiates the conversation.
The video installation Duchamp Ciné (1992) immerses the visitor in a kinetic video projection that evokes Duchamp’s Rotorelief (1965). Embedded into the wall is a small vitrine that showcases miniature versions of Duchamp’s iconic readymades, including the urinal. Appropriation artist Sturtevant, who built a career copying the work of her male counterparts, chose Duchamp as one of her victims, or honorees.
More than 70 years later, Sturtevant produced an identical replica of Duchamp’s Fresh Window (1920), both of which are on view. On the bottom of the mint green window frames a caption reads: “Copyright Rose Selavy 1920.” This was one of Duchamp’s many pseudonyms—his female alter ego. The reference to copyright is an overall irony targeting the copyright laws that, at the time, mandated the signing and dating of an original creation. By signing a readymade object with someone else’s name, Duchamp defies such criteria, and Sturtevant’s iteration further challenges the boundaries between creativity and originality.
