Originally posted by a bag of it
View Post
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
The Art of Collecting
Collapse
X
-
One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art ― Oscar Wilde
-
-
Originally posted by Shogun8 View PostAside from my own personal interest in Japanese culture in general, I use that country's approach to aesthetics as my primary example for a few different reasons, none having to do with human/civil rights and/or the nation's martial history (which themselves are worthy of another thread entirely).
Firstly, I would establish as my beachhead that the Japanese approach to aesthetics is certainly one of the most sophisticated and nuanced amongst world cultures, with the philosophical and material groundings dating back centuries and coming to their full realization during the Edo period when the island nation developed in almost complete isolation from the rest of the world. Shintoism, Buddhism, Bushido and the samurai, the tea ceremony, the concept of wabi-sabi, Zen, etc., though introduced much earlier, really took hold and became entrenched during this period.
The tendency in the West is to pigeonhole art forms, hence we have folk art, outsider art, street art, etc. as so-called "lowbrow" or lower art forms with the implied unsophistication. There is another distinction made between art and craft, with the implication there that if an object was created for utilitarian purposes (i.e. without conceptual merit) then it can only be appreciated as a decorative object - it lacks the "power" of a work of art. In Japan such distinctions are not made and in fact, there apparently is no separate word for art and craft, as we know it (Japanese speakers correct me if I'm wrong here). Thus, the Japanese appreciate and value a simple tea ceremony cup (of course, using their standards of judgement) with the same veneration as a masterpiece scroll or painting. The concept of wabi-sabi is another good example of an extremely sophisticated, nuanced philosophy and aesthetic approach which is unique to Japan. And don't get me started on the whole cult of the samurai and their own aesthetic lifestyle. Japan is also the only culture in the world that honours "Living National Treasures", who can be swordmakers, lacquer box artisans or simple woodcarvers as well as painters, calligraphers, etc.
Then there is the distinction between art and product. In the West, we bristle at the thought that these two descriptors can exist in the same sentence, much less in the same object. It's no surprise that an artist like Takashi Murakami, whose work oscillates so frequently between the two supposedly disparate worlds, comes out of Japan. He himself has said that he makes no such distinction with his work.
Japanese people accept that art and commerce will be blended; and in fact they are surprised by the rigid and pretentious Western hierarchy of "High Art". In the west, it's certainly dangerous to blend the two, because people will throw all sorts of stones. But that's okay - I'm ready with my hard hat.
In regards to the OP, the only tangible objects I collect or had collected up until the fire included the following:
Clothes
Books
LPs
Cassettes
Badges from tradeshows: Tranoi, Coterie
Invites from Runway shows 2008-2010: Rick, Damir, Dries, KKA, VB, etc
All other collateral from my time as a buyer (look books, Amagazine volumes, etc)
Thanks to http://aaaarg.org I can recover many of the texts I used to have, albeit in pdf form. The rarer music I can try to find on soulseek, but I really did enjoy having first pressings and feeling like I owned a piece of history from when it was being made. I feel the same way about the earlier Rick pieces I had. This quote from the Benjamin essay really resonated with me:
“To renew the old world—that is the collector’s deepest desire when he is driven to acquire new things, and that is why a collector of old books is closer to the wellsprings of collecting than the acquirer of luxury editions.”
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by SuE View PostThe elephant in the room is the ongoing digitization of media. Almost everyone has a music collection but it's probably in iTunes not in vinyl on a shelf. I'd like to collect more art books but honestly sometimes choose to the iPad app version instead.
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by malaesthetique View PostI've spent some time in Japan, speak the language to a functional degree, and studied comparative philosophy with East/West faculty here in Honolulu. The major work done by the department was identifying parallels between marginal strains of western thought and "eastern values" while being extra careful not to conflate the differences. Culture is always in flux and never monolithic, and although Japan was was at one point geographically very isolated they have for a long time now been a cosmopolitan people. Your belief in the radical particularity and exclusivity of their aesthetic system is homologous to how blood purity ideology is used to oppress subalterns living in Japan (Zainichi, Burakumin, Ainu, etc). Lets not pretend that Japan is some sort of hermetically sealed aesthetic paradise or a peaceful non-hierarchical space. I think you might benefit from a postcolonial perspective on Japanese aesthetics.
This quote from the Benjamin essay really resonated with me:
“To renew the old world—that is the collector’s deepest desire when he is driven to acquire new things, and that is why a collector of old books is closer to the wellsprings of collecting than the acquirer of luxury editions.”
Regardless, respect for your opinion.
I also fully agree with the quote from the Benjamin essay. That one resonated with me as well.
Comment
-
-
I think collecting could be a perversion of our survival instinct, in which case it could be innate or the perversion could be caused by environmental factors.
In any case, I have never wanted to collect anything, it seems like a waste of resources to own things which are not frequently used.
The only thing that might be considered a collection are my vacuum tubes, but I do use them in my vacuum tube amplifiers and they are also an investment as most are decades old and their value is appreciating. I do have far more vacuum tubes than I really need.
I do not collect clothing, I get rid of what I don't wear...
Comment
-
-
Didn't intend to put words in your mouth, but I do feel that the aesthetics and ideology of a culture are in many ways mutually constituted and that the picture you presented needed to be further complicated. Cosmopolitan was perhaps too strong of a word--international would have sufficed and I probably shouldn't have referred to them as "a people," as if the are undivided.
In either case your passion for certain aspects of Japanese aesthetics clearly runs deep, but I don't agree that it is without hierarchical distinctions as we have in the west. They just discriminate along different axes of value. Personally I would rather have more divisions and distinctions--as many as possible--to generate new ways of looking and contest institutionalized or nationally enshrined forms.
Comment
-
-
I try not to collect anything. All my worldly posessions fit in a small single room appartment, with litte storage space.
I'd like to keep it that way, even though I fear moving to a large house might make me complacent. I appreciate the collector's mindset and I like knowing about / seeing other people's collections (especially if they are of a more wunderkamer variety), but I just don't have that bone in me.
My grandmother tried to get me into stamp collecting when I was a kid, and even then I didn't really find it that interesting. I did love hearing stories about valuable stamps other people had though. I guess I'm fairly content to live vicariously in this respect (and probably in many other aspects of life, I'm sorry to say)Last edited by galia; 04-24-2014, 08:16 PM.
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by malaesthetique View Post
In either case your passion for certain aspects of Japanese aesthetics clearly runs deep, but I don't agree that it is without hierarchical distinctions as we have in the west. They just discriminate along different axes of value. Personally I would rather have more divisions and distinctions--as many as possible--to generate new ways of looking and contest institutionalized or nationally enshrined forms.
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by Dorje View PostI think collecting could be a perversion of our survival instinct, in which case it could be innate or the perversion could be caused by environmental factors.
In any case, I have never wanted to collect anything, it seems like a waste of resources to own things which are not frequently used.
The only thing that might be considered a collection are my vacuum tubes, but I do use them in my vacuum tube amplifiers and they are also an investment as most are decades old and their value is appreciating. I do have far more vacuum tubes than I really need.
I do not collect clothing, I get rid of what I don't wear...
Since we are going down the equally reductive evolutionary biology route, Dawkins might say something like the following: although wasteful collecting habits are a possible detriment to our motility and survival, these affectations may assist in sexual selection our increase our odds of gene survival. After all, I'm such a fit mate that I can wastefully expend my resources on flashy material wealth. Predators wont waste their time targeting me and females will want to mate with me.
Comment
-
-
I collect records. Originally peaked around 5,000, sold them all as I outgrew the music. Gained another 2,000, which having lay dormant for some years I'm now selling all off, again outgrew the music. My current new/recent collection, which I'm confident will be permanent, of less than a few years is less than 600 records.
I spent countless thousands hours of my life, more than any other single activity by far, researching, digging, archiving, contributing to published discographies. Letting go of both collections was/is a liberating experience, basically admitting to myself I didn't know what I was really looking for and spent enormous energy in the process. I gained pertinent collecting and business skills/contacts along the way but the realizations themselves I wouldn't wish on anyone.
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by malaesthetique View PostI knew there had to be some transhumanists among us here.
Since we are going down the equally reductive evolutionary biology route, Dawkins might say something like the following: although wasteful collecting habits are a possible detriment to our motility and survival, these affectations may assist in sexual selection our increase our odds of gene survival. After all, I'm such a fit mate that I can wastefully expend my resources on flashy material wealth. Predators wont waste their time targeting me and females will want to mate with me.
I disagree with your assertion that collecting would attract women, in fact the opposite. If collecting is based on fear of scarcity then it would come across as unattractive to women, and possibly odd or like a fetish. Based on my own observations, I have never experienced anyone's collections of anything attracting women as a general rule... unless it's collections of houses, cars or yachts. Or she may have a shared interest in your pez dispensers...
Comment
-
-
Speaking personally collecting's primarily about the value of experiencing cultural history rather than fear. Collectors definitely recognize the scarcity of what they collect though. Some recordings I know I'll never be able to acquire because only one copy was ever made and they reside in national archives, so unfortunately digital transfers will be the only way to hear them.
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by LelandJ View PostI collect records. Originally peaked around 5,000, sold them all as I outgrew the music. Gained another 2,000, which having lay dormant for some years I'm now selling all off, again outgrew the music. My current new/recent collection, which I'm confident will be permanent, of less than a few years is less than 600 records.
I spent countless thousands hours of my life, more than any other single activity by far, researching, digging, archiving, contributing to published discographies. Letting go of both collections was/is a liberating experience, basically admitting to myself I didn't know what I was really looking for and spent enormous energy in the process. I gained pertinent collecting and business skills/contacts along the way but the realizations themselves I wouldn't wish on anyone.Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde
StyleZeitgeist Magazine
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by Dorje View Post
I disagree with your assertion that collecting would attract women, in fact the opposite. If collecting is based on fear of scarcity then it would come across as unattractive to women, and possibly odd or like a fetish. Based on my own observations, I have never experienced anyone's collections of anything attracting women as a general rule... unless it's collections of houses, cars or yachts. Or she may have a shared interest in your pez dispensers...
I think malaesthetique was tongue in cheek though.Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde
StyleZeitgeist Magazine
Comment
-
Comment