Painted metal birdcage containing marble blocks, thermometer, and piece of cuttlebone
This painted metal birdcage—cut down to a height that would suit only a very tiny bird—contains 152 cubes that resemble sugar but are, in fact, white marble. (It amused Duchamp to see friends try to lift the work, only to discover that the cubes “weigh a ton.”) Placed among them are a cuttlebone and a thermometer, which is ostensibly taking the temperature of the cold marble. Duchamp acknowledged the absurdity of the title’s question, spelled out in black letters on the underside of the cage, noting, “You can’t sneeze at will!”
Marcel Duchamp, April 12–August 22, 2026
Gallery label from Dada , June 18–September 11, 2006
Rose Sélavy figures allusively in this "semi-Readymade," which consists of a small metal cage containing marble cubes and a thermometer. Duchamp explained that the thermometer was to register the coldness of the marble cubes since it is the cold that causes sneezes.
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