If Only I Were Sophisticated Enough to Appreciate This

Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, a man’s urinal he signed and put on display in 1917, has been declared the most influential work of modern art in a poll of 500 art experts.

Tracey Emin (b. 1963), an artist influenced by Duchamp, was nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize in 1999 for her work My Bed, which consisted of her unmade bed, complete with bottles of vodka, used prophylactics, and bloodied undergarments.

While on display at the Tate Gallery in 1999, the bed was vandalized by two nude men who proceeded to jump on it and drink the vodka. The world of modern art being what it is, everyone at the gallery applauded, assuming that the vandalism was part of the show. One of the men explained that his actions were themselves part of a work of art called “Two Naked Men Jump into Tracey’s Bed.”

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7:55 pm on February 12, 2005