For Marcel
Dimensions: 3’h x 3’6” w x 2’3”d
Materials: Telephone chair, PA speaker system, foam, speaker drivers, antique phone, CD player, blue & amber light
For Marcel pays tribute to the legacy of Duchamp and references work by John Cage. The “telephone chair,” a functional piece of furniture commonly found in 20th century households, has all but lost its function in society. The retrofitted phone, also from the same period, reflects Duchamp’s sense of irony, humor and ambiguity in an object that is decidedly recognizable, but wholly impractical in modern time.
A two-channel sound score can be heard simultaneously: from the speakers of the” inverted” retrofitted telephone, the listener hears the voice of Duchamp as he’s being interviewed by an art critic, while an adapted score by John Cage entitled For Marcel Duchamp emanates from a large PA speaker, placed in front of the chair, creating a dialogue between the voice of Marcel, and the music of Cage.
