The simple idea of ‘the possible’ seems to suggest limitless potential and infinite possible outcomes. But what role do we play in these possible outcomes? How much is a direct result of our intention, and what is unintentionally created as the result of chance?
Whilst living in Zurich, Switzerland, I became increasing somewhat-obsessived with the country’s history as the birthplace of Dada among other things. This manifested itself in odd ways such as me often aimlessly wondering around Zurich’s Altstadt in the adjoining streets near ‘Cabaret Voltaire’, the birthplace of Dada, completely lost in my head. One such cold night, as I was meandering through those familiar old streets, when a piece of trash blew across my feet in a strong gust of wind. This is quite unusual for Switzerland, which is exceptionally clean – so I picked up the crumpled paper which appeared to be ripped out of some local magazine. As I straightened out the page, I was enthralled to find that it contained an image of Marcel Duchamp’s handprint — which was being highlighted as part of a Hans Peter Feldmann’s exhibition.
Captivated by this chance happening, I immediately took the found object home and scanned it into my computer. After enlarging the image, I became fascinated by the seemingly abstracted lines that the creases in Duchamp’s hand created. These spider-web like lines echoed those of cracked glass, and I was instantly reminded of the splintered veins of fractured glass in Duchamp’s own ‘Bride Striped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even’. And upon closer comparison, the lines of the two pieces revealed a shocking resemblance to each other. I find these similarities fascinating especially given that both forms were unintentionally created by chance, not to mention my role in this chance encounter — all of which seemed to suggest ‘the possible’.
The resulting work foremost pays homage to Duchamp through the appropriation of his own handprint, and suggests his notion of ‘infra-mince’ to which the title makes reference.
