Reinventing the Wheel : A Restoration Comedy

       

To see the wheel turning was very soothing, very comforting, a sort of opening of avenues on other things than material life of every day. I liked the idea of having a bicycle wheel in my studio. I enjoyed looking at it just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in a fireplace. It was like having a fireplace in my studio, the movement of the wheel reminded me of the movement of the flames.

- Marcel Duchamp : Arturo Schwartz, The Complete works of Marcel Duchamp, London: Thames and Hudson, 1969, p.442

    

Reinventing the Wheel: the Readymade Century

     
Monash University Museum of Art

Caulfield campus

3 October – 14 December 2013

Presented in association with the Melbourne Festival

                   
"Many curiously significant remarks are made about silence in the trilogy. Molloy, for example, says: 'about me all goes really silent, from time to time, whereas for the righteous the tumult of the world never stops.' The Unnaneable says: 'This voice that speaks, knowing that it lies, indifferent to what it says, too old perhaps and too abased ever to succeed in saying the words that would be its last, knowing itself useless and its uselessness in vain, not listening to itself but to the silence that it breaks.' Only when one is sufficiently detached from this compulsive babble to realize that one is uttering it can one achieve any genuine serenity, or the silence which is its habitat. 'To restore silence is the role of objects,' says Molloy, but this is not Beckett's final paradox. His final paradox is the conception of the imaginative process that underlies and informs his remarkable achievement. In a world given over to obsessive utterance, a world  of television and radio and shouting dictators and tape recorders and beeping space ships, to restore silence is the role of serious writing."

  - page 236 : Samuel Beckett: The Critical Heritage 

    ed. by Lawrence Graver and Raymond Federman

'To restore silence is the role of objects'


         

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Reinventing the Wheel : the air of Ville de Regard (1887)

     

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.

   

       

Thirty-two years later, in another place...

Air de Paris 
Marcel Duchamp
1919

    

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Περισσότερα σκηνές από τη σπηλιά του Πλάτωνα

          

What word is that? (after Neville Cayley)
or
More scenes from Plato's Cave

Tacita Dean : FILM

now at ACCA for FESTIVAL MELBOURNE

     
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An unattributed snap. Is it the positive or the negative?
             

               

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An 1818 film of paint...

by Caspar David Friedrich

Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer

The wanderer above the sea of fog

       

       
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And so on...

        

      
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Reinventing the Wheel : Here comes the Grinder Man, singing :

     
Sharpen your wits!
Sharpen your wits!

To see the wheel turning was very soothing, very comforting, a sort of opening of avenues on other things than material life of every day. I liked the idea of having a bicycle wheel in my studio. I enjoyed looking at it just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in a fireplace. It was like having a fireplace in my studio, the movement of the wheel reminded me of the movement of the flames.

- Marcel Duchamp : Arturo Schwartz, The Complete works of Marcel Duchamp, London: Thames and Hudson, 1969, p.442

    

Reinventing the Wheel: the Readymade Century

     
Monash University Museum of Art

Caulfield campus

3 October – 14 December 2013

Presented in association with the Melbourne Festival

         
For those who would like to go into this business, we outline the details. Two ordinary strips of iron, about 1″ wide and 1/8″ thick, are drilled to accommodate three bolts and a bicycle hub axle. By means of a bolt, the iron strips are fastened together at one end, and the strips spread by hand; a small piece of iron pipe is then dropped down close to the bend, and the strips are again squeezed together, first by hand and later with the vise. This forms a clamp for the bottom of the bicycle frame. The top cross-bar is properly located, and the iron bent around it in a similar way.

The grindstone is now fitted to a bicycle wheel hub (the flange being first cut off); a pully wheel is attached and, except for the drive, the job is complete. The simplest drive is an ordinary wooden baby-buggy wheel, from which the rubber tire and spokes have been removed. This is attached to the spokes of the rear wheel by small brass lugs, as shown. The brass lugs are made in pairs; six pairs will be enough for mounting the wooden wheel. They measure 3/4″ x 1-1/2″ for those that are to be attached to the rim and 3/4″ square for those to be used as clips. These are drilled to take 8-32 bolts in a slip fit; the holes being drilled through one clip and lug at the same time. Two small holes are also drilled in the lug, and the lug is then mortised into the rim and screwed fast to it. 

With thanks to MODERN MECHANIX, March 1936
          

  reconstruction tableau above by Theatre of the Actors of Regard    

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Reinventing the Wheel : All is grist to the mill

           

COGNITIVE

IN THE

WHEEL HOUSE

To see the wheel turning was very soothing, very comforting, a sort of opening of avenues on other things than material life of every day. I liked the idea of having a bicycle wheel in my studio. I enjoyed looking at it just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in a fireplace. It was like having a fireplace in my studio, the movement of the wheel reminded me of the movement of the flames.

- Marcel Duchamp : Arturo Schwartz, The Complete works of Marcel Duchamp, London: Thames and Hudson, 1969, p.442

    

Reinventing the Wheel: the Readymade Century

     

Monash University Museum of Art

Caulfield campus

3 October – 14 December 2013

Presented in association with the Melbourne Festival

Observe the mind wheels grind.

         

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 ] round ground information assemblage (

      

     

        

TEAM WEST SPACE IS GO!

       
Congratulations TEAM WEST SPACE

This news received yesterday :

    
West Space: rental free for artists in 2014

We are excited to announce that in 2014 West Space will be rental free for exhibiting artists. As an artist led organisation, West Space is committed to supporting artists at all stages of their careers. We strongly believe removing rental fees will allow artists to invest more resources into their art practices and enhance the strong and vibrant artistic culture of West Space.

Through a number of fundraising initiatives such as our recent Melbourne Marathon campaign, our new Patrons Program and our highly anticipated Annual Fundraiser exhibition, West Space has strengthened and diversified its funding capacity. In 2014, West Space will also have the stability of receiving triennial funding from all three levels of Government for the first time after recently securing Arts Victoria Organisational Investment Program funding.

Removing rental fees that artists pay to exhibit has been a long held priority for West Space and we are thrilled to deliver this in 2014.  

         

Team West Space success at the Melbourne Marathon Festival

After months of training and blanket coverage across social media, in the early hours of Sunday morning the ten members of Team West Space finally laced up their running shoes, pulled on their Jon Cambell designed running gear, and took to the streets of Melbourne to compete in the 2013 Melbourne Marathon Festival.

The slightly overcast conditions didn't dampen the enthusiasm, as all of the team were successful in completing their distances, with a few team members even setting new personal best times.

Through this 'one-off' special fundraising initiative, Team West Space managed to raise a combined total of $13,109, which is a truly amazing effort. Thank you to all of the supporters who donated to this great cause.

Thanks also to Jon Campbell, Stewart Russell, Alexandra Apostolidis, Joan Spiller, Meyers Place, Lyndal Walker, Nick Waddell, Rosina Prestia and all of the volunteers for the extra assistance.

The ten members of Team West Space included West Space staff, Director Danny Lacy (Marathon), Program Curator Kelly Fliedner (Half marathon), Gallery Manager Christina Apostolidis (Half marathon), Education Intern Tamsen Hopkinson (Half marathon) and Special Projects Intern, Rosina Prestia (10km) + West Space Program Committee member Ieuan Weinman (Half marathon), Ulanda Blair (Half Marathon) from ACMI, Torie Nimmervoll (Half marathon), Aaron Maxwell (Half marathon) and Estelle Ihasz (10km).
      

 

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DUALISMUS : Kunst und die LOGOS

       
A fabulous moment ] for a rare Kunst Kult few ( on last night's episode of Breaking Bad. The final series is now on free-to-air TV at ABC2.

On one side of a door, we see about-to-be-broken bad student Mr. Schüler.
                     
         

Unseen, on the other side of the door, Chief Inspector Kunst aka C I Kunst aka See Eye Art announces himself into being.

What's more
Kunst wants a Word/HA HA


        

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Reinventing the Wheel : Dualism and the Hedonic Treadmill P/L

     

This ancient wheel

with so many names

turning still/         

 Sisyphus by Titian, 1549 
 Groundhog Day, 2 February/1993
        
And yet...

To see the wheel turning was very soothing, very comforting, a sort of opening of avenues on other things than material life of every day. I liked the idea of having a bicycle wheel in my studio. I enjoyed looking at it just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in a fireplace. It was like having a fireplace in my studio, the movement of the wheel reminded me of the movement of the flames.

- Marcel Duchamp : Arturo Schwartz, The Complete works of Marcel Duchamp, London: Thames and Hudson, 1969, p.442

    

Reinventing the Wheel: the Readymade Century

     

Monash University Museum of Art

Caulfield campus

3 October – 14 December 2013

Presented in association with the Melbourne Festival

    
The Laughist...
                    

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anti-Competitive

 

We've already received some great entries for our Melbourne Now poster competition.

Here's one from MaAASK : the Melbourne after-Art Anarcho Syndicalist Kollective. Thanks guys.

     

collection : The Kollective 

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"In this sign, sing!"

          

Constantine's justification for Holy War doesn't hold sway around here, in any tongue.

ἐν τούτῳ νίκα

en touto nika 

In hoc signo vinces

In this sign, conquer

      
Nicolaus van der Horst (Antwerp circa 1598-1646 Brussels) 
The Vision of Constantine before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge

That being so, we were double delighted to receive an advance copy of the Pointer Brothers latest album of Liberation Songs, "IN THIS SIGN, SING!"
     

         

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