Marcel Duchamp and Rethinking the Creative Act
A Symposium at Rice University
March 21-23, 1997
In the spring of 1957, Houstonians had an opportunity to meet
Marcel Duchamp on the occasion of a brief but remarkable talk he
presented here titled "The Creative Act." At that time, Duchamp was
widely regarded as an eccentric, semi-famous artist (or anti-artist)
clearly out of sync with the abstract expressionists who dominated
the dialogue of avant-garde art. Now, forty years later, it is
evident that no artist has had a greater impact than Duchamp on the
art of this century and the way we think and write about art.
On the 40th anniversary of Duchamp's visit to Houston, we take the
opportunity to revisit this extraordinary artist in the form of a
symposium -- "Rethinking the Creative Act" -- that gathers a half
dozen notable scholars whose work represents a sampling of the
richness and the diversity of studies in progress on Duchamp. The
title, "Rethinking the Creative Act," is not intended as the theme of
the conference but rather as a frame large enough to encompass all
the participants and to acknowledge Houston's past good history with
the artist.
The symposium is free and open to the public, and will consist of
lectures and discussions on Friday, March 21, and on Saturday, March
22 -- all in room 301 Sewall Hall at Rice University -- followed at
7:30 p.m. Sunday, March 23 in the Rice Media Center with an evening
of films by, with, and about Duchamp (for which the usual Media
Center charges apply).
Program
Friday, March 21, Room 301, Sewall Hall
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4:00
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Introduction
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4:15-5:30
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Dalia Judovitz (Department of French and Italian, Emory
University):
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"Playing the Field: Redefining Artistic Production"
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7:00-8:30
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Francis Naumann (independent scholar, currently guest
curator for
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"Making Mischief: Dada Invades New York 1913-1925"
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at the Whitney Museum of American Art):
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"The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical
Production"
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Saturday, March 22, Room 301, Sewall Hall
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9:00
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Introduction
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9:15-10:30
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David Joselit (Department of Art History, University of
California, Irvine):
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"Mensuration en abyme: Marcel Duchamp's Cubism"
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10:40-12:00
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Linda Dalrymple Henderson (Department of Art and Art
History, UT Austin):
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"Countering Bergsonist Cubism: Duchamp's Readymades and
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the Playful Science of the Large Glass"
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1:30-2:50
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Herbert Molderings (Ruhr University, Bochum):
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"Given: 1. The Waterfall 2. The Illuminating Gas...'
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How to build a Metaphor-Machine"
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3:00-4:20
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Molly Nesbit (Department of Art, Vassar College):
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"Duchamp at the Movies"
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4:30-5:30
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Panel of participants and concluding remarks
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Sunday, March 23, Rice Media Center
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7:30
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Films by, with, or about Marcel Duchamp
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Marcel Duchamp's Anemic Cinema (a palindrome)
features rotating images
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intercut with spinning words in elaborate and nonsensical
puns
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(7 min., 1926).
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In Duchamp in His Own Words, filmmaker Lewis
Jacobs approaches his
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subject through a visual style reflecting Duchamp's own
energy
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Duchamp's work (34 min., 1978).
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Duchamp is one of many famous cast members in René
Clair's Entr'acte, which
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begins with military maneuvers on Paris rooftops and ends
with
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a funeral on a roller coaster - all set to music by Erik
Satie
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(20 min., 1924).
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Dreams that Money Can Buy - a film collaboration
between Duchamp, Hans
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Richter, Max Ernst, Fernand Leger, Man Ray, and Alexander
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Calder - is the first feature-length avant-garde film
produced in
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America, the "story" of seven dreams offered for sale by
a young
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poet (80 min., 1947).
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[Total running time: 141 minutes]
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Introducers, moderators, and respondents include:
William A. Camfield, symposium organizer, Rice
University
Dana Friis-Hansen, Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston
Walter Hopps, Adjunct Curator and Founding Director, The Menil
Collection
Thomas McEvilley, critic-theorist-historian, Rice University
Major funding for this symposium is being provided by Rice
University's Center for the Study of Cultures, with additional
support from the Dean of Humanities and the Department of Art &
Art History.
For out-of-town visitors, special room rates will be available
(until 27 February) at two hotels near the campus: Wyndham Warwick
(713-526-1991) and Houston Plaza Hilton (713-313-4000). Refer to
"Duchamp Conference" at Rice University.
Inquiries about the symposium should be directed to the Center for
the Study of Cultures Rice University. For directions to and images
of Rice: http://riceinfo.rice.edu/maps/visitors.html
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