Editing Marcel Duchamp (section)

===Exhibition design and installation art===
[[File:Duchamp Mile of String.jpg|thumb|''His Twine'', by Duchamp, from "First Papers of Surrealism". Photo by John Schiff, 1942.]]
Duchamp participated in the design of the 1938 [[Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme]], held at the Galerie des Beaux-arts, Paris. The show was organised by [[André Breton]] and [[Paul Éluard]], and featured "Two hundred and twenty-nine artworks by sixty exhibitors from fourteen countries... at this multimedia exhibition."<ref name="widewalls">{{cite web |title=Behind The Scenes of the Legendary International Surrealist Exhibition {{!}} Widewalls |url=https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/international-surrealist-exhibition-1938 |access-date=2020-08-18 |website=www.widewalls.ch}}</ref> The Surrealists wanted to create an exhibition which in itself would be a creative act, thus working collaboratively in its staging.  Marcel Duchamp was named as "Generateur-arbitre", Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst were listed as technical directors, Man Ray was chief lighting technician and [[Wolfgang Paalen]] responsible for "water and foliage".<ref>{{cite book |title=Jubiläums-Ausstellung Mannheim 1907: Internationale Kunst- und Grosse Gartenbau-Ausstellung, vom 1. Mai bis 20. Oktober : offizieller Katalog der Gartenbau-Ausstellung / |date=1907 |publisher=Internationale Kunst- und Grosse Gartenbau-Ausstellung |location=Mannheim |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.118599|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/205794 }}</ref>

''Plus belles rues de Paris'' (The most beautiful streets of Paris) filled one side of the lobby with mannequins dressed by various Surrealists.<ref name="widewalls" /> The main hall, or the ''Salle de Superstition'' (Room of Superstition), was "a cave-like [[Gesamtkunstwerk]]" notably including Duchamp's [[Installation art|installation]], ''Twelve Hundred Coal Bags Suspended from the Ceiling over a Stove'', which was literally 1,200 stuffed coal bags suspended from the ceiling.<ref name="artbeat">{{cite web |title=NYAB Event - "Display of the Centuries. Frederick Kiesler and Contemporary Art" Exhibition |url=http://www.nyartbeat.com/event/2015/C28C |access-date=2020-08-17 |website=www.nyartbeat.com}}</ref><ref name="Tate">{{cite web |last=Tate |title=Duchamp, Childhood, Work and Play: The Vernissage for First Papers of Surrealism, New York, 1942 – Tate Papers |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/22/duchamp-childhood-work-and-play-the-vernissage-for-first-papers-of-surrealism-new-york-1942 |access-date=2020-08-17 |website=Tate}}</ref> The floor was covered by Paalen with dead leaves and mud from the [[Montparnasse Cemetery]]. In the middle of the grand hall underneath Duchamp's coal sacks, Paalen installed an artificial water-filled pond with real [[Nymphaeaceae|water lilies]] and reeds, which he called ''Avant La Mare''. A single light bulb provided the only illumination,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.toutfait.com/issues/volume2/issue_4/interviews/hirschhorn/popup_8.html |title=Marcel Duchamp |publisher=Toutfait.com |access-date=11 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302054012/http://www.toutfait.com/issues/volume2/issue_4/interviews/hirschhorn/popup_8.html |archive-date=2 March 2013  }}</ref> so patrons were given [[flashlight]]s with which to view the art (an idea of Man Ray), while the aroma of [[Coffee roasting|roasting coffee]] filled the air. Around midnight, the visitors witnessed the dancing shimmer of a scantily dressed girl who suddenly arose from the reeds, jumped on a bed, shrieked hysterically, then disappeared just as quickly. Much to the Surrealists' satisfaction, the exhibition scandalized many of the guests.

In 1942, for the ''First Papers of Surrealism'' show in New York, surrealists called on Duchamp to design the exhibition. He created an installation, ''His Twine'', commonly  known as the "mile of string", it was a three-dimensional web of string throughout the rooms of the space, in some cases making it almost impossible to see the works.<ref name="Tate" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.toutfait.com/issues/volume2/issue_4/interviews/hirschhorn/popup_9.html |title=Marcel Duchamp |publisher=Toutfait.com |access-date=11 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140623062319/http://www.toutfait.com/issues/volume2/issue_4/interviews/hirschhorn/popup_9.html |archive-date=23 June 2014  }}</ref> Duchamp made a secret arrangement with an associate's son to bring young friends to the opening of the show. When the formally-dressed patrons arrived, they found a dozen children in athletic clothes kicking and passing balls, and skipping rope. When questioned, the children were told to say "Mr. Duchamp told us we could play here". Duchamp's design of the catalog for the show included "found", rather than posed, photographs of the artists.

Breton with Duchamp organized the exhibition "Le surréalisme en 1947" in the [[Galerie Maeght]] in Paris after the war and named set designer [[Frederick John Kiesler|Frederick Kiesler]] as architect.<ref name="artbeat" />