on the convenience and frustration of objects –- on the nostalgia and wonder of objects –
- on the history and dual nature of objects –
Homo Faber. The making being. Who constructs, creates, assembles, installs, operates, utilizes, labors.
Homo Ludens. The playing being. Who delights, tinkers, discovers, uncovers, imagines, enjoys.
Homo Sapien. The knowing being. Who is wise, who thinks, comprehends, investigates, questions, determines.
Does it save time? Does it make the task simpler? What is required to operate it? What function does it serve? How much space does it require? Is it appealing to the eye? How well does it marry function and form? Are we “better off” possessing it? Is it a trash product or a fixable one? What is the level of craft in commercially produced objects?
Humans make objects. By the uncountable bazillions.
Marc is fascinated and alarmed by them. Particularly “found objects,” objects that have acquired a history. What rooms has this vacuum vacuum’d? Whose hands have changed the bag? Gripped the handle? Attached the hose? What items and toys have disappeared into it?
A radio. Whose heart has it soothed? What news has passed through its wires? Whose love has it increased, expressed, or ruined? What grief has it accentuated or comforted? What would have transpired otherwise…without it?
Is it beautiful? This pipe. The building it has conveyed essential water to and from? The people depending on it. The assemblers wage…
The human mind is capable of complexity, imagination and understanding. What dialogues do these apparently disparate objects hold? Where do they bond? How? Why have we made them? What do they carry of us? What do we retain of them? A photograph, kitchen appliance, toy, tool…objects associated with relationships, achievements, loss… What is an object outside of its designed use, or combined with another object, or with a handle on it?
When does an object become over-convenient…frustrating? When do we begin to serve or obey the objects we have made (or the national or corporate entity producing, programming, promoting and providing said object)? Useful objects require participation, accessibility, action/interaction. The things we carry. Our “luggage,” our views of ourselves, what we think we need.
Humans make. Humans explore and combine. Humans (can) think. What do you make, create? What do you use or obey? What do you think of that?
Objects as mirrors. Objects explored. Objects enjoyed. Objects utilized.
Make. Use. Play. Question. Discern.
Interact.
Nathan Filbert 04/24/10
