duchamp

Marcel Duchamp's Bicycle Wheel (1913). Today's question: is a bicycle wheel still a bicycle-wheel when the front wheel is taken of from the rest of the frame?






Has it not already lost it's (original/essential) purpose and hence cannot be called a bicycle wheel?

What is man if he does not follow his purpose? What is his purpose?

From Samuel Beckett's Endgame:
Hamm: Why don't you kill me?
Clov: I don't know the combination of the larder.
(Pause.)
Hamm: Go and get two bicycle-wheels.
Clov: There are no more bicycle-wheels.
When there were still bicycles I wept to have one. I crawled at your feet. You told me to get out to hell. Now there are none.



(Frances: sorry I've not elaborated about the Dali/Plato connection, was doing the essay and studying for exams...but the essay's finally completed and handed in! Will tell you more after this week i.e. after my exams)