ABSTRACT
By assigning this title to Given, Duchamp may have implied that this is his second attempt to determine
the setting for an ‘instant Pause’ or ‘allegorical appearance’. If Given is the staging of an allegory – in the sense suggested by the Greek roots allos, other, and agoria, speaking – it is a pornographic image that says one thing and means another. Furthermore, the title reads as a mathematical problem or a riddle inviting interpretation by the viewer and the uncanny atmosphere and stillness of the nude body resemble a crime scene under forensic examination. Whether an allegory, mathematical problem or detective mystery, Duchamp’s piece confronts the viewer with an enigma. What is the hidden meaning behind the allegorical setting of Given? The following part of the book is a response to Duchamp’s call for the interpretation of Given. Research is primarily conducted through drawing and The Fall: the design of an imaginary building, an allegory itself, which aims to critically analyse Duchamp’s own allegorical work (fig. 2.1).
