Thursday, March 31, 2011

Marcel Duchamp - Rotary Glass Plates, 1920


Marcel Duchamp created Rotary Glass Plates in 1920 as part of the DaDa movement. He used ready made objects and transformed them into a working machine. This machine consisted of five glass pieces attached to a horizontal spinning metal pole. The pole cuts through the center of the glass and the glass sheets increase in size from front to back. On each piece of glass the front has curved black lines on the sides in a spiral design. When the machine moves fast, the glass spins with the metal pole. Images of a moving spiral can be seen when the glass plates spin fast. This kind of creates a stroboscopic effect much like the work of (  ), the dream machine. Each piece of glass was mathematically configured as well as the base pieces of wood and spinning metal pole. The lines on the sides of each glass are carefully measured and sized with equal distances from each other.according to the Yale Art University website "eCatalogue" "Rotary Glass Plates was the first actual machine that Duchamp made in his quest for a new world that would no longer separate art from idea." 
this sculpture was innovative, interesting, and functional. It creates an optical illusion of black and white full spirals.

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