Peter Dudar

Duchamp Slash Riefenstahl Peter Dudar

"Duchamp Slash Riefenstahl" is a screenplay. On one level it is an edgy erotic fantasy; on another it is an interpretation of significant trends in twentieth century culture - both good and evil. Dada-affiliated artist Marcel Duchamp encounters Nazi-affiliated filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl at Jean Cocteau's residence in Milly-La-Forêt, just after the two have abandoned their life's works: The Large Glass and Penthesilea. Re-examining their careers, Marcel strips Riefenstahl's Olympia down to its essence. Riefenstahl surmises that Duchamp's Given (Étant donnés) is post-orgasmic. Congruities with other artists come to light, with special attention paid to Jean Cocteau, Dziga Vertov, Yves Klein, Jackson Pollock and Michael Snow. "Duchamp Slash Riefenstahl" considers the way these artists used the concepts of contemporary physicists. And metaphysics comes into play when Shiva, the cosmic dancer of creation and destruction, arrives in Milly-La-Forêt, "a place divided from the rest of the world".