objects of desire
POST: objects of desire
| Topics: |  Upcycled Art |
Sometimes when I'm out and about, all the shop windows seem to be calling my name. Stuff looks so pretty displayed behind glass, draped in devotion around She of the Perky Tits and Lifeless Expression, waiting to be sacrificed on the altar of Fantasy du Jour. Objects of desire in the forest of illusion, yours for only $99.99. Or whatever. Most of the time I don't even give a damn. I'm pretty resourceful when it comes to altar supplies, and old enough to know that less is more. Who buys this crap, and why? That question breaks the spell of temptation, and I start visualizing people's homes as bloated stomachs with newly-purchased stuff going in one end, gurgling around a bit, then being pooped out as trash, or just unwanted stuff.
Sometimes, if I have my camera with me, I take pictures of these objects of desire. Possession without consumption, a virgin birth. Walking in nature, do I feel the urge to pluck every flower I see, to possess it, to take it home with me? No. Ok then, why are shop windows so tempting? Why the urge to have more when we already have so much? Shopping is a hard habit to break. I haven't broken it yet, but I make dents in it regularly.
Looking at this story on treehugger about the SMART art competition 2009, I saw some pieces I liked. Some beautiful, some provocative and all upcycled, they're still objects being presented in the marketplace, objects of desire to be had for a price. This is the thing we accept without thinking. Can we even imagine anything different?
We'd better try. Capitalism is dying. How many people do you know who do amazing work and can't even get paid for it? Or who get paid for meaningless work? How many people live precariously from one meal to the next, without health care or even shelter? Time to take our worn-out notions of class and privilege and turn 'em into something useful, something for all people, time to make time where there is none, to borrow a phrase from The Swimming Cities of Serenissima. Upcycle that!
Footnote: money from art sales at SMART art may go to a good cause, but it's the market mentality I'm ranting about in general... y'know! There's gotta be another system... let's invent one!
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Posted by Aerin Dunford on June 3, 2009 8:07 pm
Well, THIS is exactly what I've been thinking about myself these days. I spent several months making an amazing upcycled purse out of the pop and beer can tabs that my parents and their friends had collected over the course of the year. It turned out great and I love it and use it all of the time. In March, we hosted an upcycling table at an appropriate technologies forum here in Mexico. Many people oggled at, fondled and drooled over the purse. Many people asked how much it cost. We tried to explain to them that our idea with engaging in the practice of upcycling is really to encourage people to figure out how to do amazing stuff with THEIR OWN TRASH. As opposed to just reinforcing the capitalist hegemony that we're all so entrenched in. One woman even offered my boyfriend 1200 pesos for the purse and was incensed when he wouldn't sell it.
I've been engaging in an experiment called 7 days of 7 gifts where you have to give something away every day for a week (see their NING site here: http://7days7gifts.ning.com/. I have been working at giving gifts that I make or things that I owned, without having to reduce myself to purchasing something to give. It has been very interesting and rewarding. But it's so interesting how even when we're talking about the "gift culture" it often is still reduced to monetary transactions.
So, right on, Little Shiva, I'd like to figure out together how we upcycled this totally wanker system that we've got into something much better!
Posted by Little Shiva - on June 4, 2009 3:49 am
YES YES YES! In addition to being phonecallaphobic, I'm more than a little giftaphobic too. I'm trying to get rid of my own stuff, I sure don't want somebody else's! I'm flexible on that though, 'cos you know, when people you love offer you something, you just need to absorb it and make it special, not go "eww, get that away from me!" Most of the people I love know better by now anyway. Actually, if people I love offer me stuff of their own, I usually love it too, cos it has a history, it's been a part of them. I love the story of your can tab purse!
Think of the cave paintings in Lascaux and other caves like it: they weren't made to be sold or to accessorize someone's new sofa, they were made for use by whoever lived there, or maybe sacred purposes. So check out this hot link as you muse on how to upcycle the wanker money culture: http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/