‘A Handful of Dust’ is a speculative history of the 20th century, tracing a visual journey through the imagery of dust from aerial reconnaissance, wartime destruction and natural disasters to urban decay, domestic dirt and forensics. The exhibition features works by over 30 artists and photographers including Marcel Duchamp, Walker Evans, Mona Kuhn, Man Ray, and Gerhard Richter, alongside magazine spreads, press photos, postcards and film clips. Conceived by writer and curator David Campany, the exhibition takes as a starting point the 1920 photograph taken by American artist Man Ray of Marcel Duchamp’s work in progress The Large Glass (1915–23) deliberately left to gather dust in his New York studio. Find out more about the ‘Handful of Dust’ exhibition from the Whitechapel Gallery’s website.
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Erosion, Mississippi (1936), Walker Evans. Library of Congress press photograph, Collection David Campany
Élevage de poussière (1920), Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. © Succession Marcel Duchamp/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2017 © Man Ray Trust/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2017
Ruins in Reverse (2012), Mona Kuhn. © Mona Kuhn, Courtesy of Flowers Gallery
Benito Mussolini’s dust covered motor car languishes in a Milan garage ten years after his death (1955), photographer unknown. Image courtesy of Whitechapel Gallery
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Implosions of Buildings 65 and 69, Kodak Park, Rochester, New York [#1] (October 2007), Robert Burley. Courtesy the artists and Musée Nicéphore Niépce
![Masterpiece [Re]discovery 2022. Photo: Ben Fisher Photography, courtesy of Masterpiece London](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/MPL2022_4263.jpg)
Has the Fitzwilliam lost the hang of things?