MUSEUM FATIGUE

The Living Life in Real Human Spheres

January 15, 2020 by Museum Fatigue

In the final three chapters of Peter Sloterdijk’s In the World Interior of Capital, he discusses the “spatial revolution of the present,” the idea of the local and its asymmetrical relationship to the global. Finally he concludes with the components necessary to “living in real human spheres.” Sloterdijk begins with the observation that the technologies of the global interior have seemed to make space an “ignorable factor”—compressing space to the point that it really seems to make no difference. In this […]

Categories: Reading Notes • Tags: In the World Interior of Capital, local, Peter Sloterdijk

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Exploding Machines

January 13, 2020 by Museum Fatigue

What is the history of the politics of pampering? If the universal agent of pampering is petroleum (214) as Sloterdijk asserts, then it follows that the material politics of energy might be a foundation for this history.” Sloterdijk suggests exactly this: “…it can be argued that all narratives about the changes in the human condition are narratives about the changing exploitation of energy sources–or descriptions of metabolic regimes” (224). From this perspective, the industrial revolution is not just about making […]

Categories: Reading Notes • Tags: engines, In the World Interior of Capital, motors, pampering space, Peter Sloterdijk

The Pampering Hothouse

January 12, 2020 by Museum Fatigue

In his chapter, “Mutations in the Pampering Space,” Sloterdijk finally gets to describing aspects of the comfort space of the great interior of the palace—the boredom of the hothouse existence on the inside. I like his idea of a “pampering space” because it suggests the hyper-abundance of material goods and security in the overdeveloped interior. Sloterdijk begins by observing that for the populations within the “comfort sphere” there is a shift from need and lack to “thinking in options.” While […]

Categories: Reading Notes • Tags: In the World Interior of Capital, pampering space, Peter Sloterdijk, The Crystal Palace

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Boredom and Fascination of the Crystal Palace’s Inhabitants

January 10, 2020 by Museum Fatigue

In his usage of the Crystal Palace as metaphor for the ordered interior space of the modern project, Sloterdijk describes the inhabitants as afflicted by a “palace boredom” (180). This boredom makes the inhabitants’ pine for “news from the outside” thus threats are experienced as a stimulant. This waiting for news makes their media nervous systems easy to invade through, for example, the violent acts of terrorism. In the dense contexts of encounters in urban and global communication networks, there […]

Categories: Reading Notes • Tags: In the World Interior of Capital, Peter Sloterdijk, The Crystal Palace

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Peter Sloterdijk’s Crystal Palace Metaphor

January 9, 2020 by Museum Fatigue

This morning I arrived at the heart of Sloterdijk’s book, In the World Interior of Capital, the chapter “The Crystal Palace.” That he examines the Crystal Palace of 1851 as a metaphor for modernity is not new—certainly not among anthropologists and folks in visual culture and museum studies who look to the practices of imperial and capitalist-market visuality that the palace represents. The palace’s grand promise to categorize the world and its geographical commodities of empire is obvious—as is its historical position […]

Categories: Reading Notes • Tags: In the World Interior of Capital, Peter Sloterdijk, The Crystal Palace

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A Change of Approach?

January 9, 2020 by Museum Fatigue

When I began this blog long ago with more long-form pieces, in my mind it has always been a place for longer writing and observations. I think, however, this has been the reason that writing here stalled out—the pressure of longer (and more polished) writing always kept me away. This morning, however, it occurred to me that I really need to try (yet another) new approach. Would it be possible to just use this as an online repository for much […]

Categories: Reading Notes • Tags: Reading

Treasures in the Trash: Transmuting Value

September 23, 2019 by Museum Fatigue

Every semester that I teach museum anthropology we begin with few weeks of discussion and analysis of collecting and value. During this period we look at the impulse to collect, the way objects are given value in sociocultural contexts and how this happens through social practices. This past weekend I came upon a great little short documentary which tells the story of a discerning sanitation worker—a connoisseur of trash—who rescues pieces he identifies as potentially valuable, and brings them together […]

Categories: Collecting, Museums, Museums, Exhibitions and Representation, Value • Tags: garbage, trash

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Mystery Object #27: Bible Faith Prosperity Handkerchief

February 27, 2019 by Museum Fatigue

Yesterday the mailman delivered an amazing mystery object right to my door. The moment I saw the envelope I was captivated. The outside of the letter informed me that the Holy Spirit had instructed someone to loan me something inside that would “turn things around for me!” It was something that I could use that would bring blessings. The back of the letter actually had a prayer printed on it that made reference to divine power, and a sealed prophecy […]

Categories: Mystery Objects, Objects of Power, Religion • Tags: bible faith prosperity handkerchief, handkerchief, prophecy, the gift

Mystery Object #26: Anti-Seat Belt Device

February 26, 2019 by Museum Fatigue

Every strategy of control has a tactic of resistance. While going through some photos this afternoon I was reminded of this fact by a photo I took of this little ingenious device that I saw in Nanjing last year. It is an “anti-seat belt device”—a buckle-shaped slug with a cute plastic bear head that inserts into the front seatbelt buckle to fool the car’s seatbelt warning signal. I’ve seen a few of these from time-to-time, but always forget to take […]

Categories: Hacking, Mystery Objects • Tags: automobile, everyday resistance, seat belt, tactics and strategies

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Mystery Object #25: Chinese Rockery Fountain

February 23, 2019 by Museum Fatigue

While visiting the Nanjing Confucius Temple area a few months ago with some visitors, I happened cross an incredible object. It was a water fountain for sale in a tourist shop at a dramatic discount. I was immediately captivated by its motion and drawn in by its fascinating and unconventional details. My companions initially thought that I was joking when I stopped to watch the fountain, and then after I inquired about its price, they realized I was serious. Look […]

Categories: China, Culture, Mystery Objects, Objects of Power, Uncategorized • Tags: water fountain

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