Being interested in art and visual culture often comes hand in hand with a love of collecting, often in the form memory boxes, journalling, and our Pinterest boards. This summer, however, I plan on spending my time creating something different inspired by Marcel Duchamp's 'Boîte-en-Valise' (Box in a Suitcase).
Marcel Duchamp is best known for his readymade sculptures, such as the famous urinal
'Fountain', which helped transition art from being a medium solely focused on beauty, to instead one where ideas and concepts were equally valid sources of inspiration. The collection of his works that I am most interested in is his portable exhibitions. Inspired by the approaching threat of war, Duchamp wanted to create a collection of his works that could be transported with his displacement from France to America.
The insides of the boxes consisted of miniature reproductions of his works, such as '
The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors' being seen in the centre of the example above, the original form of which is nearly 3 meters tall. A miniature urinal can also be seen presented next to the Cubist style paintings that he made early in his career, creating a nostalgic representation of his creative process.
Duchamp's boxes serve a larger purpose than simply transportation; they represent the desire for possession when war was forcing objects and homes to be left behind. By curating a collection of his past works, the artist creates a sense of homesickness for the past, and
'fetishisation of memory' (something that we all indulge in, whether it helps us to adapt to change or not).
Another creative who was inspired by times of global change to adopt this box format is Jonathan Anderson. During Covid, fashion houses were unable to present their collections in a standard runway format, causing brands to turn towards live streams and virtual runways. Anderson (who at the time was creative director of Loewe) had a different idea - one which was more personal and interactive for viewers at home. His Spring 2021 menswear collection was presented as a 'Show-in-a-Box', consisting of an unsuspecting grey box printed with the brand's logo, which acted as an archive of different elements that would go into producing a runway show. Inside contained a letter from Anderson, a booklet of his inspirations (one of them being Duchamp's presentations), 3D renditions of the outfits, fabric swatches, a working cardboard record player, credits to the design team, and other features which all together constructed a story for the collection, as opposed to a simple presentation of outfits.
The boxes represent two creatives turning towards curation to help them through times of broad social change. To me personally, the summer time acts as a period of transition, perhaps not as intense as experienced by Duchamp and Anderson, but still a time where reflection and creation can help to make sense of time. The heat causes routines to change, the political backdrop of England is becoming scarier and scarier, and (on a very personal note) I have just finished college and am about to move out of home to begin university. The next few months feel like a period where something is
about to happen, but has not yet started.
So, during the large amounts of free time that I have, I am going to create a portable exhibition of my own, and I encourage you to do the same. I don't want this box to be the same as my Pinterest boards, where I save around 10 pins a minute. Or a journal focused on documenting my day. Despite Duchamp's focus on nostalgia, I don't really want to include sentimental objects of the past.
Instead, I want my box to be an exhibition of inspirations that I could (either physically or metaphorically) take with me to the next chapter. I will spend time researching artists and include my favourite pieces by them, perhaps designing small didactic panels to go along side the works (these are the small information labels that you see in museums). Collecting postcards from different galleries and locations that I visit could also work towards my final outcome, or including objects such as playing cards, pressed flowers or polaroids- anything that works cohesively within the box. I could create a soundtrack similar to Anderson. I could also use the Substack post by 'Object Labels' on
the anatomy of an exhibition as additional inspiration of different features to include, such as creating a complementary colour palette, deciding the order of curation, and how I want each piece to be displayed.
In terms of the box itself, I could find a grand wooden one in an antiques store, or perhaps use one of the cardboard shoe boxes that I have under my bed. Or, I could go digital and not use one at all. The choice is up to me (and you if you've been inspired to do the same).
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