Marcel Duchamp3 stoppages étalon (3 Standard Stoppages) 1913-14, replica 1964

In 1964 Duchamp explained: 'This experiment was made in 1913 to imprison and preserve forms obtained through chance, through my chance. At the same time, the unit of length, one meter, was changed from a straight line to a curved line without actually losing its identity [as] the meter, and yet casting a pataphysical doubt on the concept of a straight edge as being the shortest route from one point to another.' (Anne d'Harnoncourt and Kynaston McShine, eds., Marcel Duchamp, exhibition catalogue, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1973, pp.273-4.) Duchamp used each wooden template three times in mapping the diagrammatic painting Network of Stoppages, 1914 (Museum of Modern Art, New York)… (read more)