# She wants to be a...PERFORMANCE ARTIST?!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-wants-to-be-a-performance-artist/211957>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 7, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-wants-to-be-a-performance-artist/211957 "2003-11-07T19:51:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-wants-to-be-a-performance-artist/211957/21 "2003-11-09T01:48:24Z")

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No, Sir. H. L. Mencken said, “No one in this world, so far as I know… has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.” 19 September 1926

According to Bartlett, the misquote is often made.

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**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-wants-to-be-a-performance-artist/211957/22 "2003-11-09T02:00:58Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Already in Use \*  
> \*_I admit that most performance art comes off as arrogant or self-indulgent, but then again, some of it has a sense of humor, like the artists who have [pissed](http://www.renewal.org.au/artcrime/pages/duchamp2.html) [on](http://www.renewal.org.au/artcrime/pages/duchamp.html)_ Duchamp’s _Fountain_ (itself a masterpiece in its own right), or the artists who handed out their NEA grant to illegal immigrants. \*\*

OK, these guys are brilliant. Urinating on Duchamp’s _Fountain_ works on so many levels. I’m not being silly here, either. You can call it art, but really, it’s just a urinal. I love it. Jumping naked into _My Bed_ is just as brilliant.

I do enjoy the titles of their other pieces, too. _Two Artists Swim Across the Thames_, _Two Artists Run Naked Across Westminster Bridge with Tony Bear_ and _Naked Soy Sauce and Ketchup Fight at Buckingham Palace_.

If I had money, I’d cut these guys a check.

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**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-wants-to-be-a-performance-artist/211957/23 "2003-11-09T03:23:27Z")

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Yeah, what works about the guys pissing on Duchamp’s _Fountain_ is that it does the same thing that Duchamp intended to do with his piece: challenge the preconceived notions of the art world about what is and isn’t art. It revived the original spirit of the piece, and I bet Duchamp would have loved it.

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