Interactive Art – The Role of the Spectator in Marcel Duchamp’s Étant donnés

by Dinah Han

We began this course by looking at artwork the beginning of the 14^th century and the various Byzantine and Greek inspired pieces that were coming out of a heavily Christianity inspired society. Most of these works were commissioned by the church for artists of this time were looked upon as skilled craftsmen rather than creative masters. The artists were not able to afford their painting materials and so depended upon their wealthy patrons for not only monetary assistance but also guidelines for exactly what kind of art they were expecting. In a sense, this is the highest level a spectator, or any person that is not the artist himself, can have on a piece. They are the ones dictating how a piece should look like and what the subject matter of the piece should be while the artist is the creative vehicle into which this vision can come to a tangible fruition. As the necessity for these patrons decreased as time passed and artists were viewed with greater esteem (therefore no longer needing the money of others to produce art), the role of the spectator in art also began to change.

Artists take into account of the spectator to varying degrees. It is not so easy to tell when an artist is not mindful of the viewer of his paintings. It is really when an artist consciously produces his art with the idea of the spectator in mind that it is most obvious. What made me think about this concept was as the course entered the era of the modern art. It seems that one of the greatest trends in modern art is the artist’s hypersensitive awareness of the people seeing their work. This seems to be none truer than with the Dada movement and its most famous contributor, Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp has many works that seems to directly call into question what the viewer is thinking or feeling when they see the piece. For example, when he submitted the toilet as a sculptural piece titled The Fountain he was trying to ask the spectator what they thought of the urinal and left it up to the viewer to decided whether this was even art or not. In Duchamp’s final artwork, Étant donnés, he sets up an exhibit where people must walk up to a door and look through a peephole to be able to see the piece. Not only does the viewer have to physically look through a hole to see this exhibit, but it has been said that no photograph can ever do this piece justice.

The skin of the woman figure in the tableau was made of pig skin and should therefore give the illusion of human skin. The fact that this naked woman was made to look as human-like as possible and the fact that a person has to look through a peephole to see her must give the viewer a sense of voyeurism. I researched this exhibit over the internet and came across many pictures taken of this piece. The closest and most clear images I saw, however, were from the videos I found of this tableau were from videos taken of the piece. Most of them start with the camera focused on the door rather than the scene with the woman. Then, you can almost imagine yourself taking those steps to get closer to that ancient looking door with two tiny peepholes bored in it. Finally, once the camera does look through the hole to see what lies on the other side, there is almost a sense of frustration for you are never able to see as much of the scene as you want to. Whether it is due to the small size of the peepholes, or the fact that even once you get past these tiny holes, there is still another wall blocking a complete view of the tableau. The woman’s face is never visible no matter how much the video recorder tries to shift and angle their position.

Although I would never truly get a full sense of what this piece is really like until I actually visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art where this piece is located, I did feel like I got a greater sense and appreciation for the tableau than if I were just a random spectator passing by this exhibit. Not only did I have to be limited by the wall and door that all spectators of this piece have to endure, I had an added element of restriction of having to appreciate this piece through pictures and amateur videos. It is this frustration that maybe Duchamp was aiming for, especially considering the fact that this piece was highly publicized as being his final, secretive masterpiece that he only wanted to be revealed after his death. This piece is special in that the spectator plays such a large role in the viewing of this piece and it is this singular, personal experience that maybe Duchamp wanted to convey when building the, Étant donnés.