VISION:
In 2014 I hosted a blog 100 Objects of Popular and Material Culture where I explored the manifestations of human consumption and commodity-ization. There could not be a better time than a COVID pandemic to rexamination how we live our lives. The was and is to inspire broader thinking, introspection, and understanding of our collective purchasing power. We live in the postmodern world where everything and nothing co-exist side-by-side, where most of society lives in some sort of middle ground between being a hoarder and a minimalist. The objective was to explore contemporary material and popular culture by using objects and concepts to prompt reflection. This investigation examined consumer products and concepts infiltrating our marketplace and mindsets, ubiquitously from worldwide web to social constructs. By emulating Roland Barthes’ Mythologies and The British Museum's and Neil MacGregor's format of A History of the World in 100 Objects I historicized, satirized, analyzed, and reinterpreted 100 material culture objects.
BACKGROUND:
Material Culture is the study of our culture's consumption of stuff; namely the manifestation of culture through material productions where people's perceptions of objects is socially and culturally dependent. With this, objects reflect conscious and unconscious beliefs on the the individuals who fabricated, purchased, or used them, and by extension the society where they live. So whether it is a Yves Saint Laurent handbag, glow in the dark ice cream, or a tattoo of a butterfly, they're project something about you (whether you like your reflection or not). Objects are status symbols, forms of expression, whilst fulfilling something missing inside of all of us desires, wants, and needs.
Thus by examining materiality, cultural truths and societal assumptions may be discovered. As anthropologist Arjun Appaduai states "in any society the individual is often caught between the cultural structure of commodity-ization and his own personal attempts to bring a value and order to the universe of things." Objects and commodities make up a much larger symbolic system consisting of want and need, socio-economic status, fashion, etc. Often times form follows function whether the commodity, market, and or consumer forever evolve around one-another, amid Philosopher Pierre Bourdieu's theories of capital flow full circl. So whether you're austere or ostentatious this world is made up of things and this is the game of life. So whether you like it or not we're all forced to participate. A monk still requires water to quench his thirst. So by satirically scrutinizing the world of objects and conceptualizations, hopefully this blog will provide further incite into mankind's footprint for future generations.
#consumption, #disposablesociety, #consumerism vs. #anti-consumers, #plannedobsolescence vs. #sustainability
In 2014 I hosted a blog 100 Objects of Popular and Material Culture where I explored the manifestations of human consumption and commodity-ization. There could not be a better time than a COVID pandemic to rexamination how we live our lives. The was and is to inspire broader thinking, introspection, and understanding of our collective purchasing power. We live in the postmodern world where everything and nothing co-exist side-by-side, where most of society lives in some sort of middle ground between being a hoarder and a minimalist. The objective was to explore contemporary material and popular culture by using objects and concepts to prompt reflection. This investigation examined consumer products and concepts infiltrating our marketplace and mindsets, ubiquitously from worldwide web to social constructs. By emulating Roland Barthes’ Mythologies and The British Museum's and Neil MacGregor's format of A History of the World in 100 Objects I historicized, satirized, analyzed, and reinterpreted 100 material culture objects.
BACKGROUND:
Material Culture is the study of our culture's consumption of stuff; namely the manifestation of culture through material productions where people's perceptions of objects is socially and culturally dependent. With this, objects reflect conscious and unconscious beliefs on the the individuals who fabricated, purchased, or used them, and by extension the society where they live. So whether it is a Yves Saint Laurent handbag, glow in the dark ice cream, or a tattoo of a butterfly, they're project something about you (whether you like your reflection or not). Objects are status symbols, forms of expression, whilst fulfilling something missing inside of all of us desires, wants, and needs.
Thus by examining materiality, cultural truths and societal assumptions may be discovered. As anthropologist Arjun Appaduai states "in any society the individual is often caught between the cultural structure of commodity-ization and his own personal attempts to bring a value and order to the universe of things." Objects and commodities make up a much larger symbolic system consisting of want and need, socio-economic status, fashion, etc. Often times form follows function whether the commodity, market, and or consumer forever evolve around one-another, amid Philosopher Pierre Bourdieu's theories of capital flow full circl. So whether you're austere or ostentatious this world is made up of things and this is the game of life. So whether you like it or not we're all forced to participate. A monk still requires water to quench his thirst. So by satirically scrutinizing the world of objects and conceptualizations, hopefully this blog will provide further incite into mankind's footprint for future generations.
#consumption, #disposablesociety, #consumerism vs. #anti-consumers, #plannedobsolescence vs. #sustainability
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
Biggs, Sam. "Voss Water is Bullshit," Vice: August 26, 2014.
Voss boasts just 44 parts per million of Total Dissolve Solids—among the lowest TDS ppm in the water game. That said, I’ve personally never had an issue with water being particularly solid. Never has anyone stepped up to dislodge a clog of waterborne sediment from my windpipe with a timely Heimlich maneuver.They’ve successfully managed, it seems, to repackage a basic human right as a status symbol. Whose thirst for social elevation is this liquid pretentiousness quenching? Spare a thought for those poor, deluded saps, twisting that cap, breaking that prestigious authentication seal as if uncorking the last known bottle of 1787 Château Margaux. Picture them glancing around, showboating subtly, ensuring their grip isn’t obstructing the label, dying for an opportunity to bring it up. Fully loaded with, "Oh God, yeah, I made the move to Voss six months ago, and I just haven’t looked back. You know, you just can’t put a price on purity. You really can’t."
Moore, Charles J. "Choking the Ocean with Plastic," The New York Times; August 25, 2014.
Plastics of every description, from toothbrushes to tires to unidentifiable fragments too numerous to count floated past our marine research vessel Alguita for hundreds of miles without end. We even came upon a floating island bolstered by dozens of plastic buoys used in oyster aquaculture that had solid areas you could walk on.
Tessie Mcmillian Cottom. "Why Do Poor People 'Waste' Money on Luxury Goods?" TPM, November 1, 2013.
There was a price we had to pay to signal to gatekeepers that we were worthy of engaging.. It's a mixed bag, you can never know the counterfactual of your life. Sure presentable is the bare minimum of social civiilty. Status Symbols. We would know to save our money, eschew status symbols, cut coupons, practice puritanical sacrifice to amass a million dollars.
Kolbert, Elizabeth. "No Time, How did we get so busy?" The New Yorker. May 26 , 2014: 70-75.
Schulte, Brigid. Overwhelmed Work, Love, and Play When No One has the Time. New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2014.
Economist John Maynard Keynes predicted the 3hr work day, assuming that people would make more and need less, however most of the commodities we NEED today weren't even invented. Material consumption can be habit-forming, where you grow weary of you new items allthewhile needing more. So as people became wealthier they inevitably feel more pressure, and are compelled to consumer more and more goods per unit of free time, thus created "simultaneous consumption." Swedish economist Staffan B. Linder predict this where he foresaw, "his harried protagonist drinking Brazilian coffee while smoking a Dutch cigar, French cognac, reading The New York Times, listening to a Brandenberg Concerto and entertaining his Swedish wife."
Biggs, Sam. "Voss Water is Bullshit," Vice: August 26, 2014.
Voss boasts just 44 parts per million of Total Dissolve Solids—among the lowest TDS ppm in the water game. That said, I’ve personally never had an issue with water being particularly solid. Never has anyone stepped up to dislodge a clog of waterborne sediment from my windpipe with a timely Heimlich maneuver.They’ve successfully managed, it seems, to repackage a basic human right as a status symbol. Whose thirst for social elevation is this liquid pretentiousness quenching? Spare a thought for those poor, deluded saps, twisting that cap, breaking that prestigious authentication seal as if uncorking the last known bottle of 1787 Château Margaux. Picture them glancing around, showboating subtly, ensuring their grip isn’t obstructing the label, dying for an opportunity to bring it up. Fully loaded with, "Oh God, yeah, I made the move to Voss six months ago, and I just haven’t looked back. You know, you just can’t put a price on purity. You really can’t."
Moore, Charles J. "Choking the Ocean with Plastic," The New York Times; August 25, 2014.
Plastics of every description, from toothbrushes to tires to unidentifiable fragments too numerous to count floated past our marine research vessel Alguita for hundreds of miles without end. We even came upon a floating island bolstered by dozens of plastic buoys used in oyster aquaculture that had solid areas you could walk on.
Tessie Mcmillian Cottom. "Why Do Poor People 'Waste' Money on Luxury Goods?" TPM, November 1, 2013.
There was a price we had to pay to signal to gatekeepers that we were worthy of engaging.. It's a mixed bag, you can never know the counterfactual of your life. Sure presentable is the bare minimum of social civiilty. Status Symbols. We would know to save our money, eschew status symbols, cut coupons, practice puritanical sacrifice to amass a million dollars.
Kolbert, Elizabeth. "No Time, How did we get so busy?" The New Yorker. May 26 , 2014: 70-75.
Schulte, Brigid. Overwhelmed Work, Love, and Play When No One has the Time. New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2014.
Economist John Maynard Keynes predicted the 3hr work day, assuming that people would make more and need less, however most of the commodities we NEED today weren't even invented. Material consumption can be habit-forming, where you grow weary of you new items allthewhile needing more. So as people became wealthier they inevitably feel more pressure, and are compelled to consumer more and more goods per unit of free time, thus created "simultaneous consumption." Swedish economist Staffan B. Linder predict this where he foresaw, "his harried protagonist drinking Brazilian coffee while smoking a Dutch cigar, French cognac, reading The New York Times, listening to a Brandenberg Concerto and entertaining his Swedish wife."