You have to approach the thing with an indifference, as if you had no aesthetic emotion. – Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp’s invention of the readymade changed the course of twentieth century art. Investigating the question of whether it is possible to make a work that is not a work of art led him to select ordinary, industrially manufactured objects and to present them as works of art. One of the most important moments was the selection of the object. It was to happen with complete indifference, completely avoiding the influence of “taste.
On the occasion of Duchamp’s birthday (28 July 1887), DIGITALSOULS.COM presents a selection of digital readymades, selected with complete indifference by the random file function offered by Wikimedia. A new “digital readymade” is selected with Wikimedia’s random file function for each day, starting July 28, 2021., for as long as it is amusing. We may apply some selections or modifications to the original item, but a link to the original file is a random selection, perhaps with a Wikimedia bias in terms of available files and image topics, but no taste for sure.
Gallery
The choice of readymades is always based on visual indifference and, at the same time, on the total absence of good or bad taste. – Marcel Duchamp
“Digital readymades” have been rapidly accepted as common forms of artworks in recent new media art. Well known examples are works that present collections of Google Street View imagery and other online scavenger works.
For more on digital readymades, please take a look at my new book generation/mutation: from crowdsourced to ai-sourced new media art, where I talk about the role of digital readymades in contemporary new media art.
Artist, philosopher, startup founder. Editor of DIGITALSOULS.COM.
https://hrayheine.com/
Interesting post and project! Thanks for sharing