Daniel J Brick

The Double Door Daniel J Brick

The artist Marcel Duchamp drew, in 1927, a curious door -actually it became a door to Duchamp's studio at 11 rue Larrey in Paris-: a double door sharing one hinge, that would admit a person to one of two thresholds, but only one per admittance, so when it swings on its hinge and opens into one space, it closes the entrance to the other. Note the simplicity of his image but the complexity of his concept. The concept involved is the "Threshold Experience", and the image is the 'double doorway' through which we enter and exit the spaces of our daily life. We can choose to enter a certain space or the other, and live our real experience, yet, at the same time we can see the other path -the one we've not chosen.. There is a DOUBLE DOOR, which is an open threshold. Cross it and be welcomed to the other side. There is a double door, which admits only one traveler at a time. Your companions up to now must remain behind. The next step you take ALONE. There is a double door, it swings twice: once to immersion in the Psyche, once to release onto the World. Make your choice. There is a double door, on which it is written: 'ABANDON HOPE ALL YOU WHO ENTER HERE'. Will you boldly go forth, or will you boldly turn back?There is a double door: You two, standing apart, each in his/her own solitude. Make a friendship happen, then lift the door off its hinges. You can do it together. Throw it aside, it was just another prison door to crash through. There is a DOUBLE DOOR. Make of it what you will...