Art Reboot

10 added to the meaning and reach of an existing art object. An apparent act of vandalism, if judged by the old-fashioned focus on the art object, was transformed into an act of creative genius, simply by shifting our attention to art process. Such shifts are, of course, far from new. Our continued in- ability to fully grasp the nature of the modern western artistic revolution has long concealed the fact that they are fundamental to its purpose, and indeed to the purpose of art generally. The shredding incident is only the most recent example. Marcel Du- champ gave us one of the most influential expressions a century ago, when he famously turned an off-the-shelf porcelain urinal into a work of art by changing its orientation, entitling it Fountain and signing it ‘R. Mutt 1917’. In doing so, he radically challenged long-accepted western notions about what art could and should be, and helped change the global art world for ever. Yet initial reviews were entirely dismissive, even from art-world insiders. One anonymous review in a New York newspaper, summing up the response, suggested that while it might be a very useful object in its place, that place was not an art exhibition, and it was by no definition a work of art. How things changed over the ensuing century! In a poll of leading art-world figures conducted by the sponsors of the 2004 Turner Prize, Fountain was voted the most influential piece of modern art. Duchamp and his urinal paved the way for artists such as Carl Andre, whose neat pile of firebricks titled Equivalent VIII , acquired by the Tate Gallery in 1972, prompted a disap- proving visitor to deface it with blue dye. Their work facilitated a wide range of art that would not have been recognised as such