The Deleuzian Double: Kurt Schwitter Merzbau

Kurt Schwitters’s Merzbau project was an extraordinary and mysterious work which the artist did not see its completion. Unlike other Dadaists, Schwitters worked alone without having connections to other Dadaists and his life and his works were clearly distinguished from them. Through the Merzbau project, what Schwitters wanted was to express himself in the art work, and he actually created the work embracing his life as his double. However, the Merzbau was not a simple personal recording, but it went beyond the artist’s imagination and expectation, expanding its realm and growing its size. I used the Deleuzian simulacra model in order to explain Schwitters’ Merzbau instead of the well-known Baudrillardian model, since Schwitters’s simulacra is closer to becoming a double rather than being instantly cloned.