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Back Loop Save as PDF
Chapters (33)
  1. Loop
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. A note on the text
  33. Copyright

I called in to see Carolina and Lila this afternoon. I wanted to tell her about the visit to Catalina’s house, especially the conversation we had after dinner. ‘I’d love to meet her,’ Carolina said, putting a bonnet on her daughter. ‘The number of stories that woman has must make her one of the best gossip anthologies of the twentieth century,’ she added, trying to breastfeed, while the baby was falling asleep. ‘I think there’s another woman, an Englishwoman who was also friends with Duchamp, living in Mexico City as well. I know he and Catalina were friends towards the end. Last year I published a book and learnt a bit about it. Apparently one of Catalina’s projects is restoring a rented room in Buenos Aires where Duchamp lived for nine months. There was a time in Duchamp’s life when he shaved his head completely, and I found out that the year Duchamp shaved his head was down to his stay in that room. He caught lice and got an infection that didn’t go away for ages. And it gets juicier: did you know he wore wigs? His passion for wearing wigs and the invention of his female pseudonym Rrose Selavy – which in French, phonetically, means something incredible, life is pink, and which also involved a fictitious gender-bending – emerged from that time in Buenos Aires. His heartthrob hairstyle, slicked back like Carlos Gardel’s, was always iconic, so his bald phase is a pretty big deal. I also know that during his time in Argentina, Duchamp joined a chess club. He spent his evenings reading books about chess, studying techniques. You wouldn’t believe how seriously he took it. It was almost like another of his artworks: he saw the game as an extremely serious business, and meanwhile his art seemed more like a game. And one of those games began in Buenos Aires. Catalina must know a lot more about it. She’s the one who wants to do something with that space, but I never found out if she bought it or not. I’d love to meet her, but she has a reputation for being a total bitch. And is it true she brings up her aristocratic heritage at every opportunity?’