Salvador Dali, Aphrodisiac Jacket, 1936

In that final “edible” phase, objects would merge with their viewers through the act of ingestion: “Suddenly it does not seem enough to devour things with our eyes and our anxiety to join actively and effectively in their existence brings us to want to eat them.” Approaching this ideal, the Aphrodisiac Jacket-a smoking jacket studded with shot glasses full of crème de menthe-actually invited the viewer to consume the art.

Janine Mileaf – Please Touch: Dada and Surrealist Objects After the Readymade.