Marcel Broodthaers

b.1924 (Brussels, Belgium) d. 1976 (Cologne, Germany)

Musée d'Art Moderne, Départment des Aigles

(1968)

In 1968, Marcel Broodthaers opened his apartment as a Museum of Modern Art. In one of the earliest installations, the Musée d'Art Moderne expanded from containing a collection of a few art postcards and developed into an extensive museum, including loans from ‘other’ international Museums. Broodthaers’ Musée became a serious work of fiction, questioning the presentation of art and how art institutions affect the way we view the objects within them. In paraphrase of Magritte’s famous “Ceci n’est pas une Pipe” (‘This is not a Pipe’), Broodthaers captioned some of his exhibits “This is not a Work of Art,” playing on both the idea of the ‘treachery’ of representation explored by Magritte and also providing an interesting counter-claim to Duchamp’s Ready-mades: If any object could be called ‘art’, (Duchamp), then all objects can also be ‘non-art’, including what we know as ‘art’ (Broodthaers). Objects relating to a particular ‘art idea’ don’t necessarily become art by virtue of this relationship. Broodthaers wants us to question how we place value on objects, while also considering the value we place on this value.

Art as Art project

Established 2007 Melbourne, Australia

This is not a Work of Art Rubber Stamp ©

2007, Rubber Stamp and cardboard

8cm x 1.5cm

The Art as Art project has responded to this call for non-art by producing a stamp to designate objects with “This is not a Work of Art.” Such a claim draws attention our values and preconceptions when viewing art, and by such a simple truth-claim statement we can begin to question what makes something ‘not art’ with the same rigour and enthusiasm as we discuss the things that make something not ‘not art.’