Unexpected juxtaposition is one of the great artistic devices of the 20th century. In collage. In passages from The Waste Land where each successive line is a quotation from a different source. In the editing of any new-wave TV commercial. In contemporary collecting and curating and anthologising - where those who play with the arts bring together artefacts from a variety of times and places in encounters meant to surprise at first and then look inevitable.

LRB 18 May 2000 | PDF Download