FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. ART GALLERY TOILET - DAY
Seeing a urinal flushing automatically, Peter takes a photo of it.
PETER (V.O.): The urinal is a ready-made ordinary article of life. Instead of drawing it or painting it, I capture a copy of the real thing, exercising my labour, skill and judgment.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And, as I've thought about and chosen to take a photo of it, I'm trying to express myself and the urinal aesthetically, which is different from my using the urinal functionally earlier.
Peter checks the photo a couple of times.
PETER (V.O.): Can the public readily identify my artistic activity and recognize the artistic significance?
Peter leaves the art gallery.
INT. STUDY - DAY
Peter surfs the web.
PETER (V.O.): Marcel Duchamp presented a ready-made urinal as an art piece in his Fountain 1917. It's regarded by art historians and theorists of the avant-garde as a major landmark in the 20th century.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): So the ready-made urinal as Fountain can't be a prank or an anti-art, institutionally speaking.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I visit places, I'm not interested to visit traditional galleries, seeing paintings and sculptures. The repetition of technical drawing or painting skills don't appeal to me at all.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Instead, I like to visit museums of modern art, as there may be works that would provoke my senses aesthetically.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In my last Feb visit to Japan, I saw a 3-dimensional moving art work that looked okay to me.
Act 2
INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.): In my early 20s, some former classmates and I would visit an artist's home occasionally. The artist, Mr Kwok, was then focusing on situational art.
FLASHBACK
INT. VILLAGE HOUSE - NIGHT (1976)
Peter (22) chats with Mr Kwok (29) in the presence of OTHERS.
PETER: Since matriculation, I've been working. I'm now doing squatter control in Yuen Long, demolishing illegal structures.
Mr KWOK: Is that right? See if I can join in one of your deconstruction process!
All laugh.
END FLASHBACK.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): For awhile, I tried to imitate what artists do. Lacking the technical skill and the imagination, I found my works non-provoking and meaningless.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Arts as an institution seems so presumptive or surreal to me. I couldn't appreciate or differentiate what is or what isn't art after all. Lost in the nture of the subject matter, I can't make any meaningful critique about it.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): So, in my philosophical study, I chose to write a dissertation on Perception and Truth, rather than on Aesthetics.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My former classmates who studied fine arts in universities ended up working in advertising and design sectors.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But now, I can continue my philosophical investigation of Aesthetics.
Peter watches a black-and-white interview on Youtube.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Here's an interview of Marcel Duchamp in 1956. Let me learn from the horse mouth.
Peter looks enlightened.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, he thinks a piece of artistic work needs not be a merchandize to please the immediate public. The right or ideal public are those who recognize and appreciate the artistic work long after the author is dead.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's quite true. That's also the rationale why copyright protection lasts for two generations after the author's death.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But the lingering question is: Is every human an artist? Are their dreams and the ways they live beautiful arts?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If they're beautiful arts, then to endure a lot and to enjoy just a little can be meaningful.
Act 3
INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The current pandemic has turned the world upside down. Would humans be inspired to re-discover their roles in reappraising art and life?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I tend to take the historical approach to understand the legacy of those before me so that I won't waste my residual precious time to reinvent the wheel.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I believe one can deploy various artistic forms eg literature, sculpture, music, and audio-visuals to express oneself. One doesn't have to follow conventional artistic assumptions and practices.
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Engaging in artistic activities can be a way to live life fully. Unlocking our unconscious minds, we can be more imaginative and creative.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I believe anyone can have their own original art-and-life course, contributing to cultural, social, and even political, developments.
Peter checks his phone and we see the image of an urinal.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I believe the ready-made urinal inside a conventional gallery, the flushing of the urinal, the photo taken by me, and any online/offline definitions of "urinal", all add up to become a timeless-and-spaceless art.
Peter smiles.
FADE OUT.
THE END
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