Curatorship and Post-Duchampian Art in Transnational Contexts

This research examines the role of the artist Marcel Duchamp as a curator, his legacy in the field of curatorship and how the curatorial procedures engendered by him can be transposed to contemporaneity. It presents the dynamics of Post-Duchampian art as those artistic manifestations that make regular use of abstract concepts and which are nurtured by the context to which they belong. Bauman and Foucault provided the sources for the theoretical framework. Based on their texts, the first chapter discusses the change in society marked by the shift from Modern to contemporary times. Its impact on the art field is considered through a perspective derived from art history. It also explains why Duchamp was an important agent in this transition and how a new arrangement of the world can be understood through his legacy. The second chapter analyses Duchamp’s actions in organizing and conceiving exhibitions, treating them with the importance they are due and filling a significant gap in the field of curatorship. A critical approach investigates Duchamp artwork’s presence at the Armory Show, Duchamp’s function as head of exhibitions at the Société Anonyme and his position as générateur-arbitre of the Surrealist exhibitions. Some of his iconic artworks (e.g. Large Glass) are examined in depth under the prism of Duchamp’s curatorship. A comparison between Duchamp’s pioneering curatorial thinking and the tendencies installed by Alfred Barr at the Museum of Modern Art in New York concludes this chapter. In the last chapter, as the characteristics of Duchamp’s curatorial practice have just been presented, thus Duchamp’s last curatorial work Étant Donnés is analysed. Next, this research introduces the case studies: the Brazilian artists Hélio Oiticica and Cildo Meireles to bring about a clearer understanding of Post-Duchampian art in transnational contexts. It ends reviewing the solo exhibitions of each of these artists at Tate Modern, in London