ReMake

Artists Statment:

The Polisher, 2019

Wood, Acrylic, Toilet Paper.

127cm x 25cm x 25cm (Paper roll 8cm diameter x 10 width)

A wooden museum box stands with an acrylic glass top, inside the box beholds a single roll of well-preserved toilet paper, Monoprix double épaisseur to be precise. This art piece is an interpretation of Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (1917). It can be installed anywhere at any time and is guaranteed to provide great amusement among all crowds.

The Assignment:

The Remake, our last assignment for seminar and studio. This assignment was very different from our previous ones, that different is a good different. Although we still had to go by the outlines of the assignment, there was this sense of freedom. Being able to work alone or in a group was also a new form of freedom. For this project my partner was Junlian, we had heard about the remake idea we had each came up with a few different artists, workpieces and ideas for remakes. After a quick discussion, we had both agreed on trying to do a remake of Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (1917). We then continued to make a series of dot points and concepts (as you will see below) until we found one we were passionate about. One thing that was for sure was that we wanted to treat our Remake as a response to Marcel Duchamp.

Marcel Duchamp – Fountain 1917

Art Piece: Fountain by, Marcel Duchamp

• anti-art
• After Duchamp, everything can be seen as art
• Controversial art
• Everything has influenced this
• People accept it as art
• What’s the role of the viewer and the location in the piece?
• Because of his name and who he was, it helped
• What makes art interesting?
• the concept is the key.

The Process:

Planning and Ideas:

FOOD

• Art can be anything,
• a urinal is a container
• which function as same as a plate somehow
• since Duchamp make everything could be art
• therefore a plate of food could be art
• Intimidating to eat out of a urinal

GENDER

• Make it pink or feminine since it is a man’s object
• Controversial
• Attacks both genders and the stereotypes we have today
• If Duchamp was a girl would it have the same influence it did then?
• transgender

 THE GLASS BOX

• A glass box or frame, that way whatever you choose to put inside can be considered art. Lets people question what is/isn’t considered art
• Get an item and put it inside the box, see how people reactÂ
• On the box, it has 1917, art?, FOUNTAIN or R.MUTT 1917
• Without the title “Fountain” and “R.Mutt”, it is just a urinal but because of the title, it changes the meaning. When people see R.Mutt 1917 people know what you’re talking about and where it originated from.

Writing I did for this idea –

What defines something to allow it to be considered as art? At most museums and galleries, art is often displayed in either a frame, a box, or on a stand. Is it because of these reasons it is considered to be art? Because Duchamp presented his work on a stand in a gallery is that what made it art? Because of the location? Would it have been the same if he presented it in a bathroom or on the street? Would it have the same meaning? Would it still draw so much attention to the public eye and cause so much controversy?

Using the same concept, Duchamp did we want to remake his work in a way to allow anything to be art. We want to make a square clear portable box. This way, we can make readymade art by displaying the everyday objects around us. On this box, we will have the iconic “R.MUTT 1917” written on the bottom corner to show connections between our piece and Duchamps. When coming up with our idea, we tried to think outside “the box” and chose to have a remake of not the literal object but the idea and concept behind it.

In today’s society, everyone has an opinion which can turn things into very controversial topics, such as what should and should not be considered as art. By doing this, we hope to get a similar reaction as Duchamp did and hope to cause much questioning and possibly a rather exciting class dispute around our topic.

Construction:

the wooden box:

For the wooden box, we were lucky enough to have already had this prop all done. We were able to use one of the display boxes we have at our school, and it was perfect once we found the right one. When we did, we made sure to do a few tests shots to make sure that it would work out well. It was also at this time when we realised that we needed to have the glass top to allow it to stand out amongst the crowds. The only bummer was that there was someone’s spray paint tag on the side of the box so to cover it we had to paint over it, luckily I had lots of leftover paint from a 10L container, so we were able to use it and make the box look brand new!

the acrylic box:

When it came to the ‘glass’ top, we knew that we didn’t want to have glass, mainly because it will be quite impracticable with its weight, price and fragility. For instance, if we were to have a glass, I don’t think it would have lasted very long, especially in the metro. So instead we opted for an acrylic. Our first acrylic tester was not the best that’s for sure. We went to DHV and got a rather inexpensive 50cm x 100cm piece of acrylic. After when we went back to school to construct it, we had realised that we would need to spend a little more $$ to get a higher quality acrylic. I am still very happy that we did this first tester for it helped us see our vision and know that we were on the right track.

When it came to constructing the pieces together, we tried a variety of different ways. We wanted to try to use a less invasive/noticeable approach to get the box to look as professional as possible. First off, we tried chloroform. I have used this chemical in a few projects before, and it works quite well since it melts and joins plastics together. Unfortunately, it didn’t want to melt the acrylic / when it did it would leave smudge marks on the sides from when it was forming together. We then tried super glue since that makes sense because of its super glue right? But no it would hold the panels for a little and then fall apart. In the end, we ended up, resulting in using hot glue. I wanted to try to avoid using hot glue, but it worked quite well and was the best and most supportive method.

the toilet paper:

Supersizing, we did have to plan out the exact kind of toilet paper we wanted. We knew that we wanted to to be the typical clean white and preferably double wrapped to help give it more dimension and stand out amongst the crowds. Luckily there was a place 10 meter away from school that had exactly what we needed.

The label:

The label, the easiest part. That is the easiest part which somehow took us 90 minutes to make. We used InDesign to create our label for we were able to get the exact measurements which we desired. What took so long was that we didn’t have the privileges of printing it out. Thankfully with the help of the tech guys, we were able to somehow figure out a way where we would create the label with the exact typography we wanted. We would then screenshot it to create it as an image and then print it out. When it came to the printing, we had tested a few different papers and sizes until we found the perfect one get it looking as realistic as possible. After our first installation at the Louvre, we did end up changing the name of the toilet paper to polisher to try and get it back to the ways of Marcel Duchamp.

Considerations:

When it came to planning our project, we had many different things to have to take into consideration, not only the materials, timing and scheduling but a major consideration was to be in the performance, the time, the location, the day, the weather! For instance, our first display was at the louvre, on a Saturday just after lunch at 2:30, luckily the rain had held off, so we were left with a typical Parisian grey sky. Although it may have been nicer if the sun was out and shining, it worked in our favour. By having the sky and surroundings all grey, it allowed our bright white museum display to truly pop out amongst the crowds, drawing even more attention towards it.

Locations:

The Louvre:

The louvre, our first location and our first success! When coming up and planing our locations, we knew that the louvre was an absolute must! The most well-known museum in the world and for us not to present there would be sad. Since this was our first and most significant location, we were very, very, very nervous. I remember as we started to walk closer and closer, I could feel my heart start to the race but in more of an exciting adrenaline kind of way. Just before we crossed the road to where we were going to display, we added the tag, cleaned up the box, and made sure that everything was tip-top, since when it came to installing it, we wanted to be able to leave it and run. As we approached the famous pyramids, we had found a perfect location where the tiles on the floor all lead to. Junlian sat the box down, and I placed the toilet paper, we positioned the glass top then walked our separate ways like nothing ever happened.

It was in theses first few minutes where it was all kicking in, will it work? Will people react? What if it fails? What if it succeeds? Will someone steal it? Will security take it? All these questions and many more were racing around my mind like crazy. After we set it up we walked away. I then turned around, and I saw our first targets slowly approaching our trap. Within 0.2 seconds they looked at it, took the lid off, put it down wonky and left. I’m not going to lie my heart sank for a second. But then I remembered that this is all part of our experiment, seeing how people react towards it.

The next 30 minutes followed with multiple people, by themselves or in groups all coming towards it to see what’s going on, we were even able to create a rather impressive crowd every now and then which made me so proud and happy. Once we had decided that we had a pretty good response, we walked in pretended we were apart of it to get some close up reaction shots then once the crowd had left, junlian took the box, I took the top and we left with smiles on our faces for our project was a success in our eyes.

The Opera:

The opera was a bit of a flop. The timing, the day and the weather for this location were not the best; however, I am still thrilled that we did it for we now have a record that not every location and time of day is the best. We presented at the opera on a Monday evening at around 5:30 pm, by then it was dark, cold and lots were in a rush home. Saying that we did still manage to get a few good reactions from different individuals and groups. We had this location set up or a much shorter time period as well, around 15 minutes, half the time of the others. If we were to do another presentation at this same location, I would try it again on the weekend with clear weather where tourists are coming and going all around. after all, I believe that the tourists are truly the best audience for our piece

The Metro:

I believe that this location was much much harder than all of the others, reaction wise I would say that we got the same amount as the Louvre. However, the people in the metro were a whole different crowd. Unlike the Louvre, the metro isn’t quite a fancy art gallery. People are running around, rushing trying to get from a to b as fast as possible, meaning that they are less inclined to stop and smell the roses or appreciate the art. Because of this, it did get knocked twice (a lot less than what I was expecting) and yes although two-thirds of the people were rushing that one third stopped if not defiantly slowed down as the walked past and questioned. What on earth? I think the metro reactions were quite funny, especially for those who were passing on the train, I saw a few faces looking through the glass trying to see and get an idea on what toilet paper was doing in a glass container in the metro!? (quite good entertainment)

Filming in the metro was a bit of a challenge as well, unlike the other locations where the tourists roamed and owned the land we were sourced with the Parisians and their daily commute, so trying to blend in was a must. Junlian had set himself on a seat near a vending machine where he hid his camera and pretended to be asleep. This helped to get a wide-angled shot. While I was much closer, attending a very long phone call ;).

I remember that I got one of the best shots from doing this. There was a lady who had stopped, taken a photo, and then walked past to wait for the next train. But as she was waiting she kept on looking and laughing, eventually coming back to take another photo then coming right next to me where I was able to see her sending the photo to her friends/family in WhatsApp! Our art was spreading!!

Galleries Layfette:

Galleries Layfette, time and location id not quite something to worry about at a location like this and especially at this time of year where crowds are three times in size. Our piece got quite a lot of eyes here. Quite possibly more then all other locations combined! And of all ages, from childish kids to confused teens, curious adults and entertained oldies we got them all! I’m happy that we ended up doing an installation at Galleries to concluded our assignment, unlike the metro where it was awkward to film, Galleries Layfette was perfect.

Since there were just swarms of people constantly moving and taking photos of all lights and Christmas displays, I was able to blend it and pretend that I too was just another tourist participating in the Christmas spirit. I think that the timing of our display was right on, we installed our piece just outside the woman’s department sections at around 6 pm. Not only were we getting the afternoon crowd but also the workers coming home/going out. I think that between the louvre and Galleries we got some of the best reactions, which I think comes down to the tourists being out and constantly taking photos of everything they see around them.

Artist Reference:

Marcel Duchamp:  the one the only Mr Duchamp. We struggled to try to find a similar artist who has done such a thing like ours. That is of course until we realised that Marcel Duchamp is an artist whos concept was quite similar. I am sure that there are many more artists who have done projects such as ours however it has been quite hard to find one, especially since they tend to remain nameless, just like we did for our name was Monoprix.

San Francisco prankster: As we were working on this project, a student from another class was telling me about how there was a kid who sat a pair of glasses down at a museum in San Francisco, and pretended that they were apart of the gallerie. Because of where they were displayed and how they were presented, the public took them as part of the art installations, and they were seen to be crowding around and taking photos of them just like our toilet paper. When I heard this, I thought that it was great and it made me think about how given the location and presentation absolutely anything can be art! Just like what we aimed to tell with our project.

The video:

The video was an excellent way for us to capture the crowds and also have a record of our work. I am so happy that we chose to document our project in this way, especially after seeing our classes reactions. The video also took some time to cut down, especially since we had lots and lots of great footage. I believe that we narrowed it down quite well and succeed in trying to get different angles as well.

We did question whether not we should add sound effects or music in the background. I am happy that we didn’t and that we chose to leave it with the sounds of the public. If we were to have added some sounds, it would have changed the video entirely, and we would have had to have had good reasoning as to which song/songs to play. I also quite like just having daily life sounds playing, for it enables the viewer to experience what it was like to see our art piece, to hear the sounds of the metro rushing past and the sounds of laughter.

We had also made a separate video where the video was sectioned off into blocks of each location. However, as you can tell, we changed it. I suggested that we have a mix match of all the locations to give the video a better flow. I also believe that by having short snippets from different places and different views helps to keep the viewer engaged in the content for they are constantly waiting to see what will happen next.

Presentation Day:

I feel although my presentation was most definitely not how I wanted it to go or what I had envisioned, saying that I am not quite sure what I expected. I think that the studio presentation of our piece and the video was quite good. Seeing our classes reactions truly warmed my heart and made me so so so happy. Unfortunately, I felt that our seminar like others was a bit all over the place and especially with the time, so that will be something that I will be taking into further consideration for future projects.

The feedback was a great mix which I loved. It purposed a nice challenge, especially when Lorraine was asking us questions like, is this art? Do we consider our work as art? Which yes we do. It also could have been nicer to have had a bit more of a discussion although maybe we got our point across and we didn’t need to go further.

In the end, seeing the video on the big screen with our toilet paper displayed in the middle of the classroom was fantastic. I loved it! And I loved how even the class was interacting with our project whether they realised it or not, they too (well at least quite a few) were taking part in engaging and taking photos, sharing them with their friends, doing exactly what we wanted. 

Personal Reflection:

I love it. In all seriousness, I really do I believe that we were able to capture and experience for our selves exactly what Marcel Duchamps Fountains means and that it is so much more than a simple urinal that has been disorientated. Working alongside Junlian was also a great experience when he first asked me if we could work together, he believed that we could create something unusual and entertaining, which I don’t think he was wrong about.

Overall this piece feels very, very different to all my other assignments, and I didn’t quite know why. I think that it is because rather than putting an immense amount of effort into the physical piece (which we still did for the construction) we did more of the work in the concept of our piece and the meaning behind it, alongside the documentation of the video. At least that is what I think made this piece quite different from the others I have made. In the end, I am proud of this workpiece and to think that hundreds of other people liked it and liked it enough to take photos of our work and share them is also pretty cool.