In this book Duchamp admits that he only spent about 2 hours a day (max) working on his Large Glass. He complains that artists are simply too productive. Are you overproductive in anything? What would it take to slow you down? Would that compromise anything in your vision of yourself or your work?
Duchamp notoriously avoided repeating himself in his paintings. Once he felt he exhausted a method after a (often single) take, he dropped it entirely. He warns here that artists can become too addicted to their methods, that they become “habit-forming drugs.” Are you addicted to any methods, or in danger of becoming addicted?
He speaks of the critic Vollard as “posterity in advance”, that is, someone who can speak backwards authoritatively from the future. How could someone achieve this level of acuity? Or was he literally suggesting Vollard is a time-traveler?
Why does he start the interview by comparing the lack of taxes in the 1910s to his current situation in the 1960s. He specifically talks about how tax season affects the behaviour of artists. Are there any such “seasons” or regimes that interrupt your flow, or alter your ideo-generative behaviours?
