Elena Filipovic's New Duchamp Study Published by MIT Press

Key facts

• Elena Filipovic is director of Kunsthalle Basel.
• The book is titled 'The Apparently Marginal Activities of Marcel Duchamp'.
• Published by MIT Press in 2016, 360 pages, $39.95.
• Research took fifteen years.
• Duchamp abandoned painting after 1923 for chess, administration, and archiving.
• Filipovic analyzes Duchamp's curatorial role and archival practices.
• The book includes analysis of Duchamp's installation 'Sixteen Miles of String' (1942) for the First Papers of Surrealism exhibition.
• Duchamp's 'Boîte-en-valise' (1935-41) is discussed as a nomadic museum.
• The book has three chapters: 'Notes for a theory of the work of art', 'I myself will exhibit nothing', and 'The dead end of the museum'.
• Duchamp's 'Manual of Instructions for the assembly of Étant Donnés' (1966) is analyzed.
• The study includes original iconography and little-known materials.
• Duchamp's early paintings 'Le Passage de la Vierge à la Mariée' (1912) and 'La Mariée' (1912) are examined.
• Duchamp conducted research at Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris.
• The book explores Duchamp's relationships with museums, collectors, galleries, and art historians.
• Robert Rauschenberg is quoted: 'Marcel Duchamp is everything but it's impossible to write about him.'
• Henri Pierre Roché is mentioned as a close friend of Duchamp.
• André Breton and Max Ernst were involved in the First Papers of Surrealism exhibition.
• Elsa Schiaparelli asked Duchamp to curate the exhibition's installation.
• Joseph Cornell was among the American artists in the exhibition.
• Arnold Newman photographed Duchamp caught in the string installation.
• The book references Gilles Deleuze and Aby Warburg and André Malraux.
• The book is published by MIT Press, Cambridge MA.
• ISBN 9780262034821.