Art Encyclopedia - Ready Mades

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Ready Mades
Ready Mades are associated with the Dada movement and can be manufactured objects or found objects.

Ready Made is a name given by Marcel Duchamp to a type of work he invented consisting of a mass-produced article isolated from its functional context and displayed as a work of art. His first ready-made was a bicycle wheel, which he mounted on a kitchen stool. The Ready Made can be considered a type of found object, although Duchamp himself made a clear distinction between them, pointing out that whereas the found object is discovered and chosen because of its interesting aesthetic qualities, its beauty and uniqueness, the ready-made is one of a large number of indistinguishable mass-produced objects. Therefore the found object implies the exercise of taste in its selection, but the Ready Made does not. In creating such works he demonstrated his belief in the absurdity of life and aesthetic values.