Baudrillard

Jean Baudrillard, The System of Objects, translation: James Benedict, Verso, London, 2005. Part B, Ch. 2: A Marginal System: Collecting. "Littre's dictionary defines 'objet' in one of it's meanings as 'anything which is the cause or subject of a passion; figuratively - and par excellence - the loved object'."

"If i use a refrigerator to refrigerate, it is a practical mediation: it is not an object but a refrigerator. And in that sense i do not possess it. A utensil is never possessed, because a utensil refers one to the world; what is possessed is always an object abstracted from its function and thus brought into relationship with the subject."

"At on extreme, the strictly practical object acquires a social status: this is the case with the machine.  At the opposite extreme, the pure object, devoid of any function or completely abstracted from its use, takes on a strictly subjective status: it becomes part of a collection. It ceases to be a carpet, a table, a compass or a knick knack and becomes an object in the sense in which a collector will say 'a beautiful object' rather than specifying it, for example, as 'a beautiful statuette'. An object no longer specified by its function is defined by the subject, but in the passionate abstractness of possession all objects are equivalent. And just one object no longer suffices: the fulfillment of the project of possession always means a succession or even a complete series of objects."

"Only a more or less complex organization of objects, each of which refers to all the others, can endow each with an abstractness such that the subject will be able to grasp it in that lived abstractness which is the experience of possession."

"Collecting, however offers a model here: through collecting, the passionate pursuit of possession finds fulfillment and the everyday prose of objects is transformed into poetry, into a triumphant unconscious discourse."

"Collectors are forever saying that they are 'crazy about' this or that object, and they all without exception - even where the perversion of fetishism plays no part - cloak their collection in an atmosphere of clandestineness and concealment, of secrecy and sequestration, which in every way suggests a feeling of guilt. It is this passionate involvement which lends a touch of the sublime to the regressive activity of collecting; it is also the basis of the view that anyone who does not collect something is 'nothing but a moron, a pathetic human wreck'(M. Fauron, president of the cigar-band collectors' association, in Liens, May 1964)"

"Collecting is thus qualitative in its essence and quantitative in its practice."

"In the words of Muarice Rheims: 'For man, the object is a sort of insentient dog which accepts his blandishments and returns them after his own fashion, or rather which returns them like a mirror faithful not to real images but to images that are desired. (Rheims, La vie etrange des objets, pg 50)"

"The unique object is in fact simply the final term, the one which sums up all the others, that it is the supreme component in an entire paradigm (albeit a virtual, invisible or implicit one) - that it is, in short, the emblem of the series."

"The object obtains exceptional value only by virtue of its absence."

phew.

Feedback

Notes on the feedback from my presentation, Alex: Neil Cummings, read his publication on material things. Archives, how are they made? Classification systems. How collections become institutionalised.

Matt: Ever ending. Read 'Observatory Mansions' and Tibor Fischer 'The Collector' or 'Collectors Collector'. Go and interview some collectors and design something for them.

Charlotte: Does it need the collector? Does a collection need to be displayed to be a collection?

Jimmy: Collection and scale. Serial Killers. Shoes. I'd love to see an example of fast/ slow collection. Ebay as a facilitator of collections.

Horniman Museum

I think it's my new favourite place.

Terratories/ Things I Have Made

Had our territories presentations, I presented around collections and accumualting, curation, criteria and frames & boundaries. Here are some of the things I put in that I've been making the past week or so. This is the paraphernalia needed to collect, kill, mount and display butterflies and moths. I'm looking at the process with a view to creating some kind of machine that will collect and display in one artifact- perhaps the jar- i like the likeness to taxidermy display glass domes. This is a very long shelf, about ten metres, in the studio. I created it as a space for a collection to occur but one which changes as people move things on and off it. It's just sort of looking at the boundaries for a collection and thinking about seriality in collections. It was directly inspired by the last Russel W. Belk quote from the previous post.This is a pile of matchboxes. I intend to collect and curate an 'exhibition' a week- I was originally worried about what format this should take, an actual physical display would be too cumbersome and not bounded enough, a website would be forever unfinished and I didn't like that. I settled on a book- hopefully inkjet print when i get a printer and saddle stitched- this gives a consistent format for the curation side of things to be given more scope- i intend to use different labeling and organising systems- mainly to play and use them and get a better understanding of them- I realise the flaws in the actual acquisition of my 'collections' i.e. they are not true collections due to the contrived nature in which they were obtained (these were bought as a set from Deptford Market) but the real purpose is in the curation and indeed of the once a week thing, i will, through repetition be collecting collections.

Quotes and Books

There are a few quotes and pieces that I want to keep hanging around and be in my head so I'm going to write them up here and I might pay more attention to them. Illuminations: Unpacking My Library, Walter Benjamin, Pimlico, London, (1999):

"not yet touched by the mild boredom of order"

"What I am really concerned with is giving some insight into the relationship of a book collector to his possessions, into collecting rather than a collection. If I do this by elaborating on various ways of acquiring books, this is something entirely arbitrary."

"For what else is this collection but a disorder to which habit has accommodated itself to such an extent that it can appear as order?"

"to a true collector the acquisition of an old book is it's rebirth."

Interpreting Collections and Object, ed. Susan M. Pearce, 1994, Routledge (New York and Oxon) Ch22 The Urge to Collect, Susan M. Pearce:

"A collection is basically determined by the nature of the value assigned to the objects, or ideas possessed. If the predominant value of an object or idea for the person possessing it is intrinsic, i.e., if it is valued primarily for use, or purpose, or aesthetically pleasing quality, or other value inherent in the object or accruing to it predominant value is representative or representational, i.e., if said object or idea is valued chiefly for the relation it bears to some other object or idea, or object, or ideas, such as being one of a series, part of a whole, a specimen of a class, then it is the subject of a collection." (Durost, 1932: 10)

"the collection is greater than the sum of it's parts"

Ch 26, Collecting reconsidered, Susan M. Pearce:

"Above all, it [material entering a museum] comes in groups, in sets of material."

"What links these collections [those in museums created by famous collectors] with their humbler cousins of the matchbox tops and beer mats is the lack of an intellectual rationale by which the material and it's acquisition was informed, and this nothwithstanding the fact that cigarette cards and the like are classified into sets which collectors try to complete: the sets have no rhyme or reason outside the covers of their albums.

Ch28, No Two alike: Play and Aesthetics in Collecting, Brenda Danet and Tamar Katriel:

"The pinnacle of achievement [validation?] is to have one's collection displayed by a museum."

"Some people collect 'real' objects while others collect imaginary representations of objects. Thus while Nabokov hunted real butterflies in the fields, the Viscountess Lambton created a total environment for herself in which not only her clothes but nearly every item in her home had a butterfly emblem on it (Johnstow and Beddow 1986."

"For an object to become part of a collection it has to be reframed as a collectible."

"To treat an object as a collectible is to take it out of it s natural or original context and to create a new context for it, that of the collector's own life and the juxtaposition with other items in the collection."

"The principle of no-two-alike" "same-but-different" "Humphrey has suggested that the paradigm for the experience of beauty in sameness-within-difference is rhyme. Just as a poem rhymes, so objects may rhyme: 'consider the nature of a typical collection, say a stamp collection. Postage stamps are, in structuralist terms, like man-made flowers: they are divide into 'species,' of which the distinctive feature is the country of origin, while within each species there exists tantalizing variation. The stamp-collector sets to work to classify them. He arranges his stamp in an album, a page for the species of each country. The stamps on each page 'rhyme' with each other, and contrast with those on other pages."

on completing a series or set: "To play with series is to play with the fire of infinity. In the collection the threat of infinity is always met with the articulation of the boundary' (Stewart, 1984: 159)" "When asked why he thought he had been attracted to stamps, one stamp-collector we interviewed replied, 'because you know exactly what you are missing'."

Miniatures: "'There are no miniatures in nature; the miniature is a cultural product, the product of an eye performing certain operations, manipulating, and attending in certain ways to the physical world' (Stewart, 1984: 55) [...] It is also pertinent that a miniature world is a more perfect world; the blemishes visible to the naked eye in life-size objects are no longer visible."

Ch30, Susan Stewart:

"The collection offers example rather than sample, metaphor rather than metonymy."

"Thus the miniature is suitable as an item of collection because it is sized for individual consumption."

"The collection relies upon the box, the cabinet, the cupboard, the seriality of shelves. It is determined by these boundaries, just as the self is invited to expand within the confines of bourgeois domestic space. For the environment to be an extension of the self, it is necessary not to act upon or transform it, but to declare its essential emptiness by filling it. Ornament, decor and ultimately decorum define the boundaries of private space by emptying that space of any relevance other than that of the subject."

"The collector can gain control over repetition or series by defining a finite set."

Ch37, Collectors and Collecting, Russell W. Belk:

"In a sense, many collections are 'discovered'."

"A common strategy to avoid completion is to redefine or add new collecting interests as completion nears. [...] The other strategy is to develop a 'serial collection' in which the items in the collection are owned sequentially rather than simultaneously."

"The vertical/ horizontal dimension reflects the degree to which a collection is housed in one centrally located array (often literally ‘vertical’ in it’s position on the wall or on shelves) as opposed to being spread or scattered throughout space (so that visiting the entire collection requires ‘horizontal’ movement). An illustrative example from the data is a collection of figurines, statuettes and small porcelain objects that occupied two glass-enclosed cases on both sides of the fireplace of one informant’s living room; in a sense, if an object were removed from these vertical arrays, it would no longer belong to the collection. In vivid contrast, another informant’s vast collection of heart, ducks, geese, apples and strawberries has expanded horizontally throughout her house; these objects pervade her space and appear in the most unsuspected places, which turned our photographic exploration of her home into a hunting expedition for hearts and geese."

Notes on... a week and a tutorial

Had a good one today, talked with Matt and he was positive that i had a territory but was looking too big, instead of getting in and being specific. He mentioned something that i want to keep up which is small projects rather than sprawling experiments or one massive thing, but a project based on a quote or a drawing or one idea. I like this way of doing stuff, it'll hopefully keep me feeling productive and give me good momentum. I thought i should take the opportunity to recap my key things that i want to keep ticking over. My project is essentially to do with collecting but I've tried to narrow it down into the specifics I'm interested in. Accumulation, Curation and Frames and Boundaries. these drawings help show some of my starting points.

Other important things at the moment (still) are that  frames create context. A box of 'x' helps describe 'x'. you can't have a box of ... whatever 'x' is a description or a name, it helps create a criteria or typology for the artefact(s). Creating a space for that same 'x' helps validate 'x's reason for being there.

That the repetition of something- an artefact- on mass has the effect to impress only when it is extra ordinary in scale. Something uncommon, unseen or disproportionate to it's parts. Words like awesome are good here i think.

Notes on... things i've seen

I went to the John Soane museum at the weekend as i heard he was a collector extraordinaire- there was books and marble everywhere, hanging off every wall- the place seemed to drip and it was awesome. I especially liked the way he catalogued stuff, every thing seemed to be in it's place and had little numbers on things- one room which caught my attention was one where the walls could either slide, or were hinged or something and behind the wall covered in paintings were more paintings- layers of collecting is nice. Links in nicely to my stuff with storage and display. I should also reflect on the bottom drawer exhibition we went to at John Soane's Pitzhanger Manor in Ealing. A great exhibition which looked alot at collecting and display and the way the objects we keep are interacted with. All the stuff from the loft was placed in 2 rectangles on the floor of the gallery and it was weird to see the collection in an order but not be able to be seen or investigated, it had been carefully placed but in piles or on top of each other to invite you to view from different angles- there were also photos from exhibitors homes on the walls- of the things they kept and had either stored or displayed. The pictures picked up tiny idiosyncrasies and detailed the subtle, interesting banality of the homes, they really gave a feeling as to the exhibitors character and what they found important.

I also went to Modern Art Oxford at the weekend- very good, (and some beautiful identity and poster work for the museum i have to say) It was curated well with no explanation as you went round and then a 15 minute documentary with the curator and the artists about the work- that's the way i like it. The work being shown was by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller and was teh sweet. My favourite piece was a sculpture called 'The Killing Machine' and it started with a big red button with a spotlight that you had to press to start it and then there was a light and a speaker moving around this big frame and these robotic arms began to observe and look investigatively at this reclining electric type chair. The music crescendo after a while and the robot arms began to attack the chair with pneumatic pistons- i make it sound whack but it was awesome- the music created this narrative effect, the robots seemed very real, or had personalities or whatever due to their form and also their lights which behaved like eyes, and the best part was the shadow which was cast on wall which was horrifically menacing and scary. Good art. It seems more relevant than it did at the time in relation to my project, when i think about pinning butterflies to boards and about the button at the beginning and the choice/ viewer initiated horror.

Pres

Seriously I'm so behind the times with these posts. This is from a 4 day project about bringing about an upgrade through decay (like a snake shedding it's skin or muscle tearing to grow stronger.)

These are some pretty pictures of decay- looking at tearing, ripping, and dying things rather than the dead.

Messing about with time in decay looking at how time plays a part in it.

This was an experiment where a book cover was photocopied and then the copy was copied and so on for 150 pages creating a distorted, pixelated version.

These coins were created by leaving in coke for different amounts of time- they followed thinking around the ideas of wholeness and subtraction and asked 'when is an artefact at it's best?'

I created this stamp that would degrade over time to produce a smudge of its former self- this and the photocopies and the inbuilt change and decay in the outcomes produce interesting limited editions and groups.

This is as still from a short animation where the original shapes were copied and then that was copied, similar to the photocopies but more human and much more varied- the interesting part is that when 3 consecutuive frames are placed next to each otehr it is impossible to distinguish the first from the last. The decay is subtle and gradual. Each new variation is a change from the one before and if we accept that decay is change and that, as the saying goes, a change is a holiday (where a holiday is considered an upgrade) then decay = upgrade.

This is an image which hit me hard and fitted the brief well. It speaks of conservation and challenges the perceptions of decay.

Repetition, repetition, repetition. Another 4 day project, this time concerned with accumulation and the effects of repetition.

These clock represent the start of my interest in collections and collecting- the separatley mundane clocks are brought together on mass to create an engaging collection.

I began to think about how many trees make a forest- separatley there are 15 trees, but when put inside a frame the trees become bounded and layered creating a forest. I began to look at proximity through this aswell.

This experiment is concerned with rhythm and pattern, using the most basic form: a black line. I began to put these lines inside frames giving the image a greater pattern like appearance. Maybe the frame or boundary gives it's contents a context in which to be a pattern or collection.

For part of the project I collected photos of house numbers: a seldom appreciated artefact- and created this book which displays them numerically, both as a collection and, due to separate pages, on an individual basis. In this format the numbers can be appreciated singularly and favourites can be concieved.

I also displayed them as a poster giving thought to their posisiton on the street in the layout so as to give more context. In the poster the whole group is viewed at the same time, leaving the space for similarities to be recognised- these similarities begin to form small patterns.

Last Slide.