Page 57 - Studio International - May 1968

from the sober spirit which draws together the
threads of infinity in O'Doherty's enterprise. But
even Copley's artists are bedevilled by history, and
by the many troughs in modern art history from
which we all have fed. The deja vu is not escaped
entirely.
For instance, one of the more elaborate items is an
envelope containing a correspondence between
Walter da Maria and Jan van der Marck, director
of the new Chicago Museum of Contemporary
Art. Mr Van der Marck is inviting him to partici-
pate in an exhibition called 'Art by Telephone', an
idea derived, as he dutifully explains in his letter,
from Moholy-Nagy's 1922 gesture of ordering by
telephone five paintings in porcelain enamel from
a sign factory.
The artist then ruminates and comes up with a
project—rather literal but intriguing nonetheless—
of presenting the public with an unadorned tele-
phone which, when it rings, they may answer. The
artist himself would be on the other end, making
long-distance calls to the extent of the budget the
museum allots for the project. Shades of Berlin in
the 1920s.
This look-back in order to look forward is
effected by other artists in the portfolio whose
initial directions were clearly inspired by Marcel
Duchamp, Kurt Schwitters, Man Ray and count-
less others, and whose leap forward is not always
champion-quality broad jumping.
Nevertheless, in the wilderness our society has
produced out of the new materials of urban chaos,
conspicuous waste and bulk mail, the imaginative
manipulation of generically different materials is
all to the good in both these publishing ventures.
What is now called `intermedia' with such dumb
abandon will perhaps find some definition, and
therefore meaning, by means of these essays into
different times and spaces. Dore Ashton

Two views of the S.M.S. Issue No 1 Jan/Feb 1968
Su Braden Project for a bridge James Byars
Black dress Christo Store front Walter da
Maria Chicago project Richard Hamilton
A postcard, for mother Julien Levy Pharmaceuticals
Kasper König My country 'tis of thee Sol
Mednick Hottentot apron Irving Petlin Cover
Nancy Reitkopf Luggage labels LaMonte &
Marian Zazeela Two propositions in black