小便池的「擁躉」

早前分別撰文談及巴黎龐畢度中心的《達達展》及法國人隨街小便的習慣，隨即兩件事竟連上了關係。一位七十七歲的法國老人/藝術家Pierre Pinoncelli於1993年首次於法國南部Nimes美術館內於展出中的杜尚作品《泉》上小便。十數年後，杜尚的小便池又被搬到巴黎龐畢度中心，而他亦隨傳隨到，今年一月四日到龐畢度中心參觀《達達展》時，用身上帶著的一把斧頭襲擊《泉》。事後他被法院裁定蓄意破壞罪，罰款美金$245,490及監禁三個月。Pinoncelli在庭訊上表示，他的行為不是犯法，而是行為藝術。他指1967年時，曾告訴過杜尚他會做「一些事情」來，所以相信杜尚本人會很高興看到他這樣做。於1968年離世的杜尚強調藝術創作的過程，並重新界定觀眾和作品的互動關係。他於1917年創作的《泉》已經遺失，但1964年他同期創造了八件《泉》作品。Pinoncelli辯稱，他的所做所為非但不會破壞藝術品，反之讓它更有「獨創」的價值。2002年，Pinoncelli更斬下自己的小指頭，以表達其對被綁架的哥倫比亞政治家Ingrid Betancourt的一片忠心和敬仰。

A 77-year-old French man, Pierre Pinoncelli, artist of École de Nice, was convicted for attacking artist Marcel Duchamp's famed porcelain urinal with a hammer on 4 Jan 2006 in Centre Pompidou where the work was displayed in the DADA exhibition. Pinoncelli said in the court that he told Duchamp in 1967 that he would do "something" and that what he had done was not vandalism but a performance art that increased the value of the artwork by making it an "original". Pinoncelli said his act might have pleased the artists of Dada. Duchamp, who died in 1968, emphasized the creative process, and a role for the spectator. The original of 1917 was lost, but in 1964 Duchamp created eight other versions of the work and the one is display valued $3.4 million. The court gave Pinoncelli a three-month suspended prison sentence and ordered him to pay a $245,490 fine. However, the January urinal attack was not the first for Pinoncelli. He urinated on the piece during a 1993 exhibition in Nimes in southern France. Pinoncelli's actions are not limited to the Dada movement or works of art. He cut off his own finger as an expression of solidarity with Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, held hostage by leftist guerrillas since 2002.

Image 1: Pierre Pinoncelli ready to chop off his finger as a tribute to the Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt in 2002. (Image from New York Times)

Image 2: Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, (1917) Original work lost, Readymade, Procelaine Urina, Height 60cm Philidelphia Museum of Art