response and what not for week five
I find Inside the White Cube to be both an interesting as well as a very confusing read. It seems that O’Doherty explains his thoughts in an overly pretentious and convoluding way. He makes manic statements that sometimes have an enlitening effect on me (however, I think this might be thoughts that came to me during my state of confusion). However, there were some times of lucid reading. I do enjoy O’Doherty’s writing when he does things like discuss Duchamp praising him at one moment just to question his motives and techniques at another. One particular passage that I enjoyed was the section about 1,200 Bags of Coal, “Where there really 1,200 bags?... Where did Duchamp 1,200 bags?... And how could they be full of coal? That would bring the ceiling – and the police – down on top of him. They must have been stuffed with paper. How did he attach them all? Who helped him?” (67 O’Doherty) It’s section like this that make me enjoy Inside the White Cube. The tongue in cheek (at least it seems that way to me) inquiry into the thoughts of artistic endeavor.
-Ian Harrison
