Lydia Winston Malbin Symposium

“Imitation Is the Sincerest Form …”: Marcel Duchamp and the Copy in Contemporary Art



This symposium has been organized on the occasion of the restoration of Marcel Duchamp’s damaged “Rotary Glass Plates” (“Precision Optics”) and the manufacture of a facsimile. The facsimile makes it possible to demonstrate the machine’s intended optical effect.



In addition to a demonstration of the machine and a summary of the history of the facsimile by Carol Snow, Conservator of Objects, and Jennifer Gross, the Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, the symposium features a panel discussion with artists Josiah McElheny, Zoë Sheehan Saldaña, Joe Scanlan, and Haim Steinbach, M.F.A. 1973, addressing replication, authenticity, and the copy in contemporary art.



Free and open to the public; no registration required.



9:00 am Coffee

Yale University Art Gallery

Jan and Frederick Mayer Lobby



9:30 am–1:00 pm

Yale University Art Gallery

McNeil Lecture Hall

Introductory remarks by Jennifer Gross

Presentation and panel discussion with Josiah McElheny, Zoë Sheehan Saldaña, Joe Scanlan, and Haim Steinbach



1:00 pm Break for lunch



2:30–4:00 pm

Yale School of Art

32 Edgewood Street Gallery

Presentation on the restoration of Rotary Glass Plates and creation of the facsimile, and a demonstration of the facsimile, with Jennifer Gross and Carol Snow.