- Fountain (Duchamp) (Wikipedia)
Fountain is a readymade sculpture by Marcel Duchamp in 1917, consisting of a porcelain urinal signed “R. Mutt”. In April 1917, an ordinary piece of plumbing chosen by Duchamp was submitted for an exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, the inaugural exhibition by the Society to be staged at the Grand Central Palace in New York. When explaining the purpose of his readymade sculpture, Duchamp stated they are “everyday objects raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist’s act of choice.” In Duchamp’s presentation, the urinal’s orientation was altered from its usual positioning. Fountain was not rejected by the committee, since Society rules stated that all works would be accepted from artists who paid the fee, but the work was never placed in the show area. Following that removal, Fountain was photographed at Alfred Stieglitz’s studio, and the photo published in the Dada journal The Blind Man. The original has been lost.
- The Vladimir Putin Interview (Wikipedia)
“The Vladimir Putin Interview” is a television interview hosted by the American journalist and political commentator Tucker Carlson with Russian president Vladimir Putin. It premiered on February 8, 2024, on the Tucker Carlson Network and the social media website X (Twitter). It is the first interview with Putin to be granted to a Western journalist since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Historians have pointed out the many falsehoods in Putin’s statements.