Clifford, James, “On Collecting Art and Culture” in The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998, pp.215-251. Print.
In this text, Clifford begins to unravel the complex relationship between art and culture. In the discussion, Clifford states that ‘Collecting- at least in the west, where time is generally thought of to be linear and irreversible- implies a rescue of phenomena from inevitable historical decay or loss’ (Clifford 231). The specific conception of time (unique to the west) can aid in the understanding of why collections are formed.
Collecting is described as ‘an exercise in how to make the world one’s own’, a way to relive moments from the past (Clifford 218). However, when objects are ‘saved out of time’ they take on a new importance (Clifford 231). The original desire to cherish and preserve that past is not achieved. A collection warps time as the objects are just fragments ripped from their original context. A tension exists between an attempt to preserve the original context of an object and the belief that ‘human artistic creation transcends location and time’ - that the objects can exist without their original context (Clifford 242). There is a desire for both but an impossibility of entirely achieving either.
We take objects from a time we do not understand, placing value on them because they are aged, and making meaning in the present. Collecting constructs a ‘dimension of our life that is both real and imaginary’ - objects and fantastical meaning (Clifford 220). History and time are subjective (created) - the ‘past and future exist only in the mind’ (Le Poidevin). Essentially the collections we have take on a new life within a fabricated, distorted value system that makes guesses about history.
Clifford, James, “On Collecting Art and Culture” in The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998, pp.215-251. Print.
Le Poidevin, Robin, "The Experience and Perception of Time", The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 2009. Web. 3 Mar. 2011.
i find the importance of context very interesting as well, and the tension between the context and object to be never ending. As how can we completely preseve the context of a piece as the contexts context, and so on, is constantly changing as well. To view these objects now they have meaning because generally we don't personally have experience with their context, but without being aware of their context they are culturally meaningless and so devalued. This conflicting balance of context is curious, and i don't believe we will ever truely find a balance. (since again our own cultural context is endlessly evolving)
ReplyDeleteKatrina's comment serves to further illustrate the problem of the object vs the idea or representation of the object when presented as information. Objects displayed within a collection or a taxonomic structure are afforded a relationship by association or instruction. A qualified assembler of information is assumed or annotated as the learned custodian of the order of things. Information that presents itself as the object via the Internet is not however subject to the same rigor and it's context can be completely changed to associate new meaning and new value - which can be fictitious and/or inappropriate.
ReplyDeleteRichard Killeen's 'Cult of The Hook' illustrates our propensity to believe information that is presented within a formal structure, our predetermined conditioning to believe that which appears to have been prepared and presented by someone of greater knowledge. Webpages and internet based information presents itself as knowledge, perhaps even a better version of the truth as it is subject to less censorship.
The removal of objects from their source and the destruction of original context is now so great that we frequently fail to question what we are seeing, believing and in turn propagating. One ease of illustration is snopes.com, check it out next time you receive an email or facebook warning about something.