“Zwischen Prozess und Fetisch. Die Readymades, die Schaufensterscheibe und das Kaleidoskop der Rezeption“

This essay examines the transformation of Duchamp’s readymades in relation to temporality, authorship, and commodification. It argues that Duchamp’s selection of readymades—purchased as new, unused commodities—was not merely an aesthetic provocation but structurally linked to his exploration of dimensionality in The Large Glass. By acquiring objects from shop windows, Duchamp enacted a precise temporal intervention: freezing the moment of selection and inscription as a form of projection from potential use into artistic designation. This gesture resonates with The Large Glass, where objects appear as traces of a higher-dimensional process, revealing reality as a temporal cut through a continuum of states. The essay further discusses the readymades’ shifting status from studio-bound experiments to marketable editions, examining their role in later artistic strategies of appropriation and critique. Ultimately, it highlights how the readymades function not as static objects but as processual markers, inscribed within both artistic and economic systems.