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This groundbreaking book tells a new story of the twentieth century´s most influential artist, recounted not so much through his artwork as through his "non-art" work. Marcel Duchamp is largely understood in critical and popular discourse in terms of the objects he produced-whether readymade or meticulously fabricated. Elena Filipovic asks us instead to understand Duchamp´s art through activities not normally seen as artistic-from exhibition making and art dealing to administrating and publicizing. These were no occasional pursuits; Filipovic argues that for Duchamp, these curatorial tasks were a veritable lifework. Duchamp´s elusive but vital activities revealed how artworks signify and are transformed by their institutional context. These activities were, in short, only apparently marginal. With them, Duchamp revised the idea of what a modern artist could be. With this fascinating book, Filipovic in turn revises our ideas of Duchamp.

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Elena Filipovic, an art historian, is Director and Chief Curator of the Kunsthalle Basel. Among her curatorial projects is the traveling retrospective "Marcel Duchamp: A Work That Is Not a Work of Art´" (2008-2009).

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