The participating artists in "French Window" are the winners and the finalists of the Marcel Duchamp Prize that established in 2000 by the Association for the Inter National Diffusion of French Art (ADIAF), the most important group of contemporary art collectors in France.
We asked them four questions to find out how Marcel Duchamp and the collectors have affected their life as artists, and first introduce the answers from Mathieu Mercier who exhibits an artwork inspired by Duchamp's "Fresh Window".
Photo: Jennifer Westjohn
■Profile
Born in 1970 in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Lives and works in Paris.
Recent maijor solo exhibitions include "Mathieu Mercier Prix Marcel Duchamp",Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Paris in 2003, "Sans Titres 1993-2007," Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris / ARC, Paris in 2007, and "Untitled 1993-2007," Kunsthalle Nurunberg in 2008.
A: independent operating model.
A: I spend fast the whole money of the prize into a collection including a Duchamp's piece. It didn't change my way to work but definitely helped my name to be known. I'm very involved into Duchamp's work as I'm working into publishing a version of the ≪ box in a valise ≫ in a very large and affordable edition.
A: Beside the obvious fact they help me to live and work, collecting could be a creative act as well. I'm always pleased to discover a collection, it is the best way to understand about its owner goals.
A: I don't know, but he is probably playing with us right now.
■His typical work in "French Window" exhibition
《Untitled》
2007
Courtesy: Galerie Lange + Pult, Zurich and the Artist
Photo: Watanabe Osamu
Photo Courtesy: Mori Art Museum
©ADAGP, Paris & SPDA, Tokyo, 2011
■Relevant information
・"French Window: Looking at Contemporary Art through the Marcel Duchamp Prize"
