The year is 1887. The postman of Ville de Regard is doing his rounds on one of the new diamond-frame safety bicycles.
As he approaches Blainville-Crevon, a farming village by the banks of the river Crevon (in the Pays de Caux, some 16 kilometres northeast of Rouen)... Parbleu! A puncture in the back tyre.
Monsieur postman is known throughout the commune for his diverse interests, his artisanal skills and his good humour. As he does with most phenomena, le facteur observes this event with the welcoming awe of a child.
He listens to the sound of the air of Ville de Regard as it escapes the capsule circulaire.
He makes in his mind a notation of this sound.
He visualises next a transparent text bubble, much like a speech bubble but one that gathers instead a meta-script: the Label of his Present Regard.
He figures he could blow a glass of that shape - this is only one of his many skills - and seal it to hold forever a certain volume of the air of Ville de Regard.
Such phials, of the air of Ville de Regard, he could give as special gifts. Perhaps the first as a present to the newborn son of his friends Monsieur Eugene and Madame Lucie at Blainville-Crevon.
Air de Paris
Marcel Duchamp
1919
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
LOGOS/HA HA