The artwork titled “Sixteen Miles of String (installation for ‘The First Papers of Surrealism’ exhibition)” was created by the eminent artist Marcel Duchamp in 1942 in New York City, United States. This piece is representative of the Dada and Surrealism movements and belongs to the genre of installation art. The installation features a vast expanse of string meticulously arranged to create a labyrinthine and visually arresting environment within the gallery space where it was exhibited.
The artwork entails an intricate network of strings extending from the ceiling to the floor, intersecting and weaving through the exhibition space. The strings obscure the viewer’s path and partially veil the other artworks in the background, prompting an interaction that goes beyond mere observation and demands physical navigation. The complexity of the strings’ arrangement invokes both a sense of entrapment and fascination, encouraging the audience to experience disorientation akin to dreamlike surrealism, thereby transforming the entire space into an immersive art piece.
