To my killrater number one, in all probability Peter T. Daniels:
language is not restricted to words, also visual signs and
symbols can convey messages, and very precise ones.
> I thank the folks at alt.surrealism for not having flash mobbed
> sci.lang. As reward I give you my list of symbols I found in
> Marcel Duchamp's Great Glass at Philadelphia.
>
> WATER life / MOTIONS active life, live / REVOLVING MOTIONS
> organic life / WARMTH liveliness / AIR, GAZEOUS MATTER
> spirit (Hebrew ru-ach, Greek pneuma, Latin spiritus) / PERFUME
> attractive / TOBACCO SMOKE inspiring (in Duchamp's opinion;
> I quit smoking a long time ago and am glad about it) / SOLID
> MATTER being, existence / METALS human existence / GLASS
> art - Leonardo said a painting must be like a mirror filling itself
> with the images of the surrounding objects; you may also look
> out a window and imagine the images being kept in the glass
>
> ONE unity / TWO polarity / THREE, NINE all, everything /
> LINES, ONE DIMENSION seing, thinking, feeling, dispositions
> / ROUND AND STRAIGHT are like feeling and thinking - with
> feelings alone you'd walk around in circles, and with thinking
> alone you'd bump into the next wall / PLANE, TWO DIMENSIONS
> picture, language / SPACE, THREE DIMENSIONS body, living
> being, world, reality / FOUR DIMENSIONS art as a way of life,
> erotic, also true understanding / LA MARIEE MISE A NU PAR
> SES CELIBATAIRES, MEME, MARCEL DUCHAMP Mona Lisa
> looked at by all her many visitors in the Louvre, smiles at me,
> loves me, Leonardo da Vinci (she was actually smiling at him
> when he painted her) - the picture, destined for the public, is
> only understood by the painter Leonardo and his fellow artist
> Marcel Duchamp
>
> THE BRIDE Mona Lisa, and her ironical paraphrase in the
> Great Glass / HER BACHELORS her viewers, the public, their
> constrainted life (consider Duchamp's time) / THE MARRIAGE
> symbol for the real seeing and understanding of a picture such
> as the Mona Lisa, in the metaphorical sense a fulfilled life
>
> LOVE GAS Mona Lisa's fame, her beauty / THREE VEILS OF
> GAZE her changing facial expressions / APPEARANCE OF
> AN APPEARANCE Duchamp's Glass as ironical paraphrase
> of the Mona Lisa, shown as a mechanical-anatomical color
> shadow, thus combining Leonardo's different fields of work and
> interests, namely mechanics, anatomy, and painting
>
> CEMETERY symbol of the museum, where liveless paintings
> showing long dead people hang on the walls - and liveless in
> a double sense as a famous painting like the Mona Lisa is not
> understood / THE HANGED ONE picture hanging in a museum /
> HER BACHELORS still and silent visitors, living just a half live
>
> UNIFORMS human and especially male professions, all
> too constrained ways of life (consider again Duchamp's time
> between the World Wars - one over, the other one dawning) /
> SEXUAL PLANE language / CHOCOLATE GRINDER body,
> organism / CHOCOLATE organic matter / ROLLERS organs
> / BAJONET spine / SCISSORS visual apparatus, crossed
> optical nerves / SLED psyche / PARALLELEPIPED mind,
> consciousness / SKIDS OR RUNNERS subconscious or
> unconscious / WATER WHEEL soul / PLUMB WEIGHTS
> our needs, coming up, being satisfied, going down, keeping
> the soul in motion / WATERFALL life / EMANCIPATED
> METALS animated matter / LUMINOUS GAS human
> spirit, enlightment / FLIPPERY talents / NINE SAMPLE
> THREADS we human beings, all equal, all different (MD
> let nine threads, one meter long each, fall from a height of
> one meter, whereupon they curved, each in their own way,
> yielding individual measures - all the same, each unique /
> SIEVES institutions of the society like family, schools,
> church, factory, office, barracks, and so on
>
> ACTIVITIES ON THE RIGHT SIDE what happens when one
> looks at a painting, the Mona Lisa, the Great Glass itself /
> BOXING MATCH first problems of getting acces to the
> picture / DROPS parts of our own life we project into the
> painting / THEIR REFLECTION Mona Lisa appears lively
> when we look into her eyes, yet it is our own life we project
> into her, and we get it back via her smile whose expression
> depends on us / BACHELORS AS A HALLUCINATION OF
> THE BRIDE while we are looking into her eyes we get quiet,
> while she comes to life -- yet when we are looking for a very
> long time into her eyes, it seems as if she were dreaming,
> and perceiving us like mere shadows whisking across her
> long lasting dream ...
>
> NINE BULLET HOLES the various interpretations of the picture
> (Mona Lisa, Great Glass) / AIM OF THE SHOTS true meaning
> of these pictures (Mona Lisa an Allegory of Seeing, Great Glass
> an Allegory of Not Understanding) / LENS eye / MANDALA
> visual field, with a central "ray" of clear vision, and a wide area
> of unclear seeing, as explained by Leonardo in at least seven
> passages of his writings / THREE NIMBI Leonardo - Duchamp
> - we (eye witnesses, those who understand)
>
> Regards Franz Gnaedinger www.seshat.ch
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