This thesis looks at the function of signatures in visual art using the theory of Jacques Derrida and a series of paradigmatic historical examples. Specifically, it departs from ‘Signature Event Context’ (SEC) to establish signature outside the idiom of visual art as a social process. Having established signature as process designed to guarantee presence, it suggests that signature should be considered a method of production. As a method of production, signature has a significant contemporary relevance for dematerialised and Relational Art practices which are frequently held to be ‘unsigned’. This thesis suggests grounds for questioning the unsigned quality of Relational Art, and looks at what signatory production means for it. Until the 1990s, signature was mostly ignored as a subject for serious art historical scholarship. It is still rarely indexed as a subject even when it warrants a mention in the body of a text. Although a clutch of recent studies have addressed its occurrence in the work of individual artists, or within the boundaries of narrowly defined eras, there is little work - if any - which attempts to connect these pockets of knowledge with a conceptual grounding of what signature does in order to develop a connected narrative and broad understanding for its place. As a result, there is little interrogation of signature’s mechanism alongside historical examples, and scholarship is instead focused on its appearance. This thesis attempts a broad, conceptually informed, historical survey, using examples that date as far back as the sixth century BC. The aim is to unpack the signature-form ‘R. Mutt’ which appears on Marcel Duchamp’s Readymade, Fountain (1917), a work with great conceptual importance for contemporary dematerialised and Relational Art practices. In bringing SEC into close 3 proximity to Fountain, the thesis establishes potential grounds for reading a significant theoretical relationship between Derrida and Duchamp, a pairing which has been neglected by scholars despite conceptual sympathies between them.

This paper revolves around the idea of the infra-thin, a concept coined by Duchamp, which describes paradoxes and/or phenomena that are not easily defined with words but instead sensed. The infra-thin is illustrated throughout the paper by discussions revolving around scars, bruises, birthmarks, dust, fog, lint, and other similar "things" that are, in some definition of the term, objects. The afore listed entities are used as examples: 1. To initiate a dialogue that starts with Minimalism, bounces back to Duchamp and explains how he influenced the Minimalists, places Warhol in context, describes how Minimalism moved forward from the show at the Jewish Museum, and puts the rest of us working post-1966 in perspective. 2. To begin a conversation about readymades. A readymade being an anonymous, neutral object that we take for face value as "work of art" simply because of an artist's deeming it art. Because it exists as a neutral object, it is seen out of the corner of the viewer's eye, recognized as this anonymous thing that equals art object, and is then forgotten about and only recollected by memory as a readymade as opposed to the object that it resembles. 3. To introduce the idea of attempting to explain through language paradoxes that are sensed and/or attached directly to memory. I start with readymade but then there are other things. Bruises, scars, birthmarks are a few examples. Others include fog, dust, fuzz. Still others are shadows and stains. A few more are vapor and evanescence. Also, things inherently human, like emotion.

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2008. / Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 43 p. : ill. (some col.) Includes bibliographical references.

Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2000--Aachen.

Le banal objet manufacturé a pris une place de plus en plus importante sur la scène artistique depuis son irruption, via le geste de Marcel Duchamp en 1913. De 1913 à aujourd’hui, cet objet pose problème : 1/car il est à la fois objet quotidien et objet d’art ; 2/ car exposé, il est soumis à un dispositif communicationnel qui tout à la fois en montre le sens et en génère ; 3/ car plus l’objet se réduit plus le discours tissé autour est important. Le sens qu’il revêt au long du siècle change et une évolution se dessine : plus l’objet tend à s’abstraire, à se numériser plus il va revenir sous la forme du discours et de la communication nous donnant à voir quelque chose d’irréductible, ce que l’homme dépose en lui de fondamentalement humain. Envisagé sous les angles esthétique, anthropologique et institutionnel, l’objet, apparemment simple, nous montre son indéniable complexité. Il est fonctionnel, utile, décoratif parfois, objet d’art plus rarement et en lui se fixe quelque chose du sujet qui l’utilise, le regarde, le crée. L’objet, comme paradigme de la communication humaine, suit, induit, en tout cas entérine les progrès et les régressions de la société. Et l’objet d’art, dans les dispositifs d’exposition de plus en plus prégnants, interactifs et sophistiqués, est un révélateur essentiel pour une meilleure saisie du présent. / The mundane and manufactured object has taken an increasing place on the artistic scene since its irruption, by the act of Marcel Duchamp in 1913. From 1913 to nowadays, this object is problematic: 1/ because it is both an everyday thing and a piece of art; 2/ because, when it is exhibited, it is submitted to a device of communication which simultaneously reveals and creates the meaning; 3/ because more the object is reducing itself, more the discourse about it is important.Throughout this century, the meaning of the object has changed and an evolution is discernable: more the object is abstracting or digitizing itself, more it exists by the discourse and the communication. This gives us to see an irreducible thing, a fundamentally human leftover.Analysed by aesthetic, anthropologic and institutional perspectives, the object, apparently simple, reveals its clear complexity. It is functional, useful, sometimes decorative, and more rarely a piece of art; and something of the subject, who uses, peers, creates its, sets in itself. The object, as a paradigm of the human communication, follows, induces, endorses at any rate progresses and regressions of society. In increasingly significant, interactive and sophisticated exhibitions’ devices, the piece of art is an essential indicator for a best understanding of the present time.

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Master of Architecture

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The research called Snapshots Fragments; a study of Bergsonian cinematographic mechanism in the Marcel Duchamp´s painting Nude Descending a Staircase, is based in arts and reflections in which paint is performed a study of the cinematic mechanism concept from the philosopher, Henri Bergson. The research starts from the questions about wich intersection point can exist between an art work and a philosophical concept, that were deeply relevant and fruitful in modernity with contemporary developments in both discussions: arts and philosophy. In other words, this work was done intending to find similarities and differences between Duchamp\'s painting and Bergson´s concept. The research was developed aiming to enable the dialogue establishment between art and philosophy, given through an element that would be the embrace of both: the movie. / A pesquisa intitulada Fragmentos instantâneos, um estudo do mecanismo cinematográfico bergsoniano na pintura Nu descendo uma escada de Marcel Duchamp, trata-se de uma pesquisa em fundamentos e reflexões em artes, no qual são realizados estudos da pintura Nu descendo uma escada , de Marcel Duchamp, e do conceito de mecanismo cinematográfico, do filósofo Henri Bergson. A pesquisa inicia-se a partir dos questionamentos sobre a possibilidade de haver um ponto de intersecção entre um trabalho em arte e um conceito filosófico, os quais foram profundamente relevantes na modernidade e profícuos de desdobramentos na contemporaneidade e, nas discussões tanto no campo das artes, quanto na filosofia. Em outras palavras este trabalho foi realizado objetivando-se verificar em quais aspectos há convergências e divergências entre a pintura de Duchamp e o conceito de Bergson. A pesquisa foi realizada visando possibilitar a instauração de um diálogo entre arte e filosofia, dado através de um elemento que seria o amplexo de ambos, o cinema. / Mestre em Artes

Durante meu mestrado selecionei textos específicos de Marcel Duchamp: textos teóricos nos quais ele reflete sobre o mundo das artes. São palestras que ele deu em universidades, cartas e catálogos para as exposições que ele organizava cujos textos são dele. Este material é fundamental para entender como este artista tão radical entendia a arte e como se esforçava para propagar suas concepções. São temas surpreendentes porque Duchamp teve um importante papel na apresentação da arte européia aos Estados Unidos trabalhando como curador durante um bom período. É impressionante vê-lo apresentando Picasso, Calder ou Matisse. Ou então defendendo os motivos pelos quais todo artista deve cursar uma universidade. São textos que todo estudante de arte deveria ler. Ou melhor, todos que gostam ou trabalham com arte... Este material foi selecionado e traduzido a partir dos originais em inglês e francês que estão nos livros Duchamp du Signe - écrits (Paris, Flammarion, 1975) e The Writings of Marcel Duchamp (New York, Da Capo Preess, 1989) , organizados por Michel Sanouillet com a colaboração de Elmer Peterson (ambos contém os mesmos textos, um em inglês e outro em francês). É uma seleção que cobre de 25 a 30% do total destes livros. Deixei fora do meu recorte todas as notas que fazem parte das próprias obras de Duchamp e têm um caráter poético intenso, recorrendo frequentemente a sofisticados trocadilhos dignos de uma tradução pelos irmãos Campos. Além da tradução dos textos teóricos, meu trabalho têm mais duas partes. Um posfácio, no qual faço uma leitura das obras de Duchamp iluminada exclusivamente pelos textos que estão traduzidos na primeira parte e um Apêndice - que é a parte que mais gosto. Este apêndice é uma brincadeira com Duchamp. Proponho um Ready-made para definir um perfil de sua obra recortando dos textos que ele escreveu sobre outros artistas apenas as caracteríscas que estão fortemente presentes no próprio trabalho dele. Como apontaram na minha banca, é quase uma leitura de revelação psicanalítica ao indicar como vemos nos outros aquilo que temos em nós. / This work selects specific texts of Marcel Duchamp: theoretical texts in which Duchamp reflects about the art world. This texts are lectures that Marcel Duchamp gave at universities, letters and catalogs for the exhibitions that he organized and whose texts Duchamp signed. This material is essential to understand how a so radical artist understood art as he struggled to propagate his views. Duchamp played an important role in introducing European art to the United States by working as curator for a long period. It\'s amazing to read his texts presenting Picasso, Calder or Matisse. Or even defending the reasons why every artist should attend the university. These are texts that every art student or art lover should read. This material was selected and translated from the originals published on the books Duchamp du Signe - écrits (Paris, Flammarion, 1975) and The Writings of Marcel Duchamp (New York, Da Capo Preess, 1989), organized by Michel Sanouillet with the collaboration of Elmer Peterson (both contain the same texts, the first one in French, the second one in English). This selection covers 25% to 30% of these books. I left out of my selection all the notes that are part of the own works of Duchamp and have an intense poetic character, often using sophisticated puns. Besides the translation of theoretical texts, my work have two more parts. An afterword, which is a view of Duchamp\'s works illuminated only by the texts which are translated at the first part and an Appendix - which is the part I like best. This appendix is a joke on Duchamp. I propose a Ready-made to define a profile of his work cutting from the texts he wrote about other artists only traces that are strongly present in his own work. It´s almost a psychoanalytic reading that indicates how we see in others what we have in us.