Bruce Asbestos
Mr. Asbestos has sent some of his merry objects to the Broodthaers Society, in the spirit of merchandise, an imposition that Marcel Broodthaers asked us to ponder in his text, "To be a straight thinker or not to be. To be blind":
What is Art? Ever since the nineteenth century the question has been posed incessantly to the artist, to the museum director, and to the art lover alike. I doubt, in fact, that it is possible to give a serious definition of Art unless we examine the question in terms of a constant, namely the transformation of Art into merchandise. This process has accelerated nowadays to the point at which artistic and commercial values have become superimposed. If we are concerned with the phenomenon of reification, then Art is a particular representation of the phenomenon—a form of tautology. We could then justify it as affirmation, and at the same time carve out for it a dubious existence. We would then have to consider what such a definition might be worth. One fact is certain: commentaries on art are the result of shifts in the economy. It seems doubtful to us that such commentaries can be described as political.
– MB, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1975
Thanks Bruce.