Wild Things: The Material Culture of Everyday Life Contributor(s): Attfield, Judy (Author), Miller, Daniel (Introduction by), Staszowski, Eduardo (Editor) |
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ISBN: 1350070718 ISBN-13: 9781350070714 Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts OUR PRICE: $31.30 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2020 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Anthropology - Physical - Design | History & Criticism - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social |
Dewey: 306 |
Series: Radical Thinking in Design |
Physical Information: 0.8" H x 6.1" W x 9.1" (0.95 lbs) 264 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: What do things mean? What does the life of everyday objects reveal about people and their material worlds? Has the quest for 'the real thing' become so important because the high-tech world of total virtuality threatens to engulf us? This pioneering book bridges design theory and anthropology to offer a new and challenging way of understanding the changing meanings of contemporary human-object relations. The act of consumption is only the starting point of object's "lives". Thereafter they are transformed and invested with new meanings and associations that reflect and assert who we are. Defining designed things as "things with attitude" differentiates the highly visible fashionable object from ordinary aretefacts that are too easily taken for granted. Through case studies ranging from reproduction furniture to fashion and textiles to 'clutter', the author traces the connection between objects and authenticity, ephemerality and self-identity. Beyond this, she shows the materiality of the everyday in terms of space, time and the body and suggests a transition with the passing of time from embodiment to disembodiment. |
Contributor Bio(s): Miller, Daniel: - Daniel Miller Professor of Anthropology, University College London. Recent books include "A Theory of Shopping," "The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach" (with Don Slater) and Ed. "Car Cultures."Dilnot, Clive: - Clive Dilnot is professor of Design Studies at Parsons The New School for Design, New York, USA. Recent publications include Ethics? Design? (2005) and the text for Chris Killip: Pirelli Work (2007). |