Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Elaine's bibliographic suggestions, round two

Evan's website museum:
Matthew Kirschenbaum, *Mechanism: New Media and the Forensics of the Image* argues that digital media are material.

Crow's duct tape museum:
www.madehow.com on duct tape for a detailed sense of how it is made

Sam's broom museum:
D. Rozenszbrock, *Brush* a catalogue of brushes, including brooms, from an exhibit I saw a few years ago.

Emily's pneumatic tube museum:
Patricia Conway George, "Mass Transit: Problem and Promise," Design Quarterly (1968) I found this on jstor after learning that first NYC subway was a pneumatic tube.

George's aspirin museum:
For the history of worker unrest at Bayer (where canny chemists invented both heroin and aspirin a few weeks apart):
Craig Patton, "'Proletarian Protest'?: Skill and Protest in the German Chemical Industry, 1914-1924." Journal of Social History 1992

Jordan's condom museum:
Ramasamy, P. *Plantation labour, Unions, Capital and the State in Peninsular Malaysia* (Oxford 1994). Back to the rubber of the rubber.

Nuper's flannel museum:
I. Peate, "Welsh Folk Industries," Folklore 1933 (jstor)
One fabric brings together the history of industrialization in Wales, lumberjacks and lesbians--what a textile.

Hans's rubber stamp museum:
Search the etymology of the verb "to rubber stamp" in American and English dictionaries. Correlate with rise of bureaucracy?

My Hair Museum by Kibwe Chase-Marshll




STATEMENT:
In the most simplistic of contemporary Western assessments, hair is an organic extension of the body. Though it is often admired for the quality and quantity of its subjectively valued inherent attributes (texture, luster, length, thickness), like height, strength, or bone density it resides far from the domain of the commodity; capable of being bought and bartered, traded and treasured for its investment potential. The contemporary realities surrounding our relationships with hair tell a shockingly different story. Not only is hair farmed, produced, packaged and promoted in a manner analogous to more conventional resources (ironically symbolic textile fibers, like wool and cotton come to mind), its varying degrees of quality are stratified and assigned corresponding market value (not unlike the fur industry). But is this simply the “procured” as “prosthetic” in its cultural and aesthetic function? Yes and no; at times, the wearer’s inorganically achieved hair is treated by both the wearer and observer as “natural”. At other times, its artificial nature is acknowledged, appreciated…even venerated. These responses are often more about cultural positioning and perspective, than about the actual hair. Historically, hair’s ability to communicate gender, race, class, and age has been interrogated with much attention paid to implicit factor of the “haves and have-nots”. What do we make of a more contemporary consideration, because today most can go from have not to have (even to have more) for the right price.

INITIAL WORKS:
Horse hair sensitization in a woman with hair extensions made from horse hair
Annals of allergy, asthma, & immunology [1081-1206] Bagg yr:2008 vol:100 iss:1 pg:A66 -A67

Contact anaphylaxis from natural rubber latex used as an adhesive for hair extensions
British journal of dermatology [0007-0963] Wakelin yr:2002 vol:146 iss:2 pg:340 -341

Synthetic hair braid extension artifacts in panoramic radiographs
The Journal of the American Dental Association [0002-8177] Brown yr:1998 vol:129 iss:5 pg:601

Evaluation of polyamide synthetic hair - A long-term clinical study
Panminerva medica [0031-0808] Palmieri yr:2000 vol:42 iss:1 pg:49 -53

CHEMISTRY OF SYNTHETIC WIGS AND HAIR COLOR - CHEMISTRY IN DAILY LIFE
Kemisk tidskrift [0039-6605] [Anon] yr:1978 vol:90 iss:11 pg:58 -58

DEVELOPMENT OF DELUSTERED SYNTHETIC-FIBERS FOR USE IN WIGS AND HAIRPIECES
Textile chemist and colorist [0040-490X] KASWELL yr:1995 vol:27 iss:5 pg:21 -24

'The World of Wigs, Weaves and Extensions'
Toni Love

So You Want a Weave
The Jacksonville Free Press

Weave epidemic hits community hard
Cynthia Levy
New Pittsburgh Courier 2007

Getting wiggy with it
Audrey Adams
The New York Beacon 2006

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Kevin Merida
The Washington Post 2001

Bye-Bye, Bad Hair Days
By Allison Samuels
Newsweek June 2005

Nigeria; The Growing Trend of Street Hair Plaiting
Africa News April 23, 2003

LOCKS CAN BE DECEIVING IN THE WORLD OF BLACK HAIRDRESSING;
WHAT DO BLACK WOMEN DO TO THEIR HAIR AND WHY? LORNA LAIDLAW TELLS JO IND STRAIGHT.
Birmingham Post September 29, 1999

Monday, October 6, 2008

Hans’ Suggestions…

For Perfume Museum


Burr, Chandler. “The Talk; Color Coded.” New York Times Magazine. 22 October 2006: 40 – 46.


Abstract:

Last month I gave the new Kenzo Amour to a friend of mine, a middle-aged white woman. Amour is an example of rather abstract perfume art, the scent of smelling (metaphorically) a flower on a high-definition television screen, a powdery, electrical, glassy, slightly otherworldly loveliness. One notices a certain power behind its softness, like the gentle sound of a jet in the sky whose distance obscures great force. My friend loved it. A week later, I saw her again. She wore an amused look. ''That perfume is very strange,'' she said. ''A gazillion people complimented me on it.'' Yeah, so? ''So every one of them was black.''Actually, this is not strange at all. Tastes in art, fashion, music, food and books vary between cultures (indeed, that's what creates and defines cultures), and the perfume business has known this for years. Kenzo's Jungle, for example, is spicy and strong and sells well in the heavily black Caribbean. But it is loathed in Japan, where it's anathema to draw attention to yourself: customers would step back from salespeople and motion frantically to avoid getting the scent on them.


For Duct Tape Museum


Jim and Tim’s Duct tape Gallery

http://www.ducttapeguys.com/dtgallery.html

Duct Tape Art Gallery


For Flannel Museum

Jackel, Susan. A Flannel Shirt and Liberty: British Emigrant Gentlewomen in the Canadian West, 1880-1914. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1982.


For Felt Museum

Chen, Aric. “For the Love of Felt.” Interior Design. 73.11 (2002): 150-156

Abstract

Focuses on the interior design of the house of designer Christine Birkle in Berlin, Germany, which was made of felt materials. Background on felt materials; Description of the house.

I found a PDF copy on academic search premier. Lots of pictures of the house.

MY MEAT MUSEUM

Ryan Hartigan

Georges Bataille, colonialism, urbanisation, consumption, capitalism, sacrifice, Benjamin, barbarism.




THE PORKPIE - Modeled after the classic porkpie hat, this sharp number is made of genuine Louisiana pork.

http://hatsofmeat.com/

This source was Googled, and 'meat hats' were in fact my search terms - I directed a very disturbing production years ago.

Other sources, which will give a fair idea of some of the territory my museum explores:

(Worldcat/Academic Search Premier)

Bataille, Georges. 'The Notion of Expenditure.' Visions of Excess: Selected Writings 1927-1939. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985.

Benjamin, Walter. 'Eduard Fuchs: Collector and Historian' New German Critique 5 (Spring, 1975): 27-58.

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma. New York: Penguin Press, 2006.

Warehime, Marja. ' "Vision Sauvage" and Images of Culture: Georges Bataille, Editor of Documents.' The French Review, 60. 1 (Oct., 1986): 39-45

Also, as a starting point via google:

NZ close to filling US beef quota.

New Zealand's beef and veal quota to the US is expected to be filled quicker than expected due to making up a shortage caused...
goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-3256367/NZ-close-to-filling-US.html



Should anyone need further inspiration, feel free to listen to the wise words of Morrissey (and yes, this is extremely tongue-in-cheek):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzNSAU2qM64



Evan's Suggestions

Ok, so as a general disclaimer I'd like to be the first to note that all of the sources I looked up to suggest are web sources. I noticed that a lot of people were very exclusively focusing on academic search tools, so I went out looking for some sources that were really unique to the web and that would not appear in a more academic context. Because the nature of the web is such that it often acts as an intermediary between consumer and producer rather than producer and what is produced, these sources are not clearly as steeped in the social relations of production as other sources one might find, but I nevertheless feel that they illuminate this topic in iteresting ways. So here goes:

@My Rubber Stamp Museum: this is a link to a software download for a piece of software that promises to be able to keep track of the stamps that a collector owns so that the collector can more effectively collect. I found it interesting that the production of stamps as collectors items kind of exclusively sustains the production of non-stamp, stamp-collecting paraphernalia.

"Stamp Collector." Tech Republic. 2008. Beaver Valley Software. 6 Oct 2008 .

@My Condom Museum: this is a discussion forum in which people are discussing condom use in the fantasy videogame fable 2. I thought it could provide interesting insight into condoms as purely social objects that do not have to be produced, created, distributed, etc, and might throw some of that process of production into relief in terms of what influence it has over the social reality of the finished product condom.

"General Discussion Forum." Giant Bomb. 2008. Giant Bomb. 6 Oct 2008 .

@My Vinyl Museum: this is from an amazon discussion forum of music afficionados discussing vinyls. I found it interesting that what is presumably a major agent of the distribution and large influence on the production of vinyls was supporting a medium for discussion of the product that was not explicitly commercial and what that meant in terms of the social reality of the object and on what terms the sale and production of it could be considered.

"Vinyl Forum." Amazon.com. 2008. Amazon. 6 Oct 2008 .

@My Nail Polish Museum: this is a link to a make-up company's site where they are "selling" their product by doing nothing other than providing a collection of clips from various news etc agencies that discussed their product. It was an interesting formulation I thought in terms of contemplating what went into the production of the product's image in the process of sale.

"The Buzz." Eyes Lips Face. 2008. JA Cosmetics Corp. 6 Oct 2008 .

Kristen's Suggestions...

for "My Sneaker Museum"
Shoes: A History from Sandals to Sneakers/edited by Girogio Riello and Peter McNeil
Ocofor;New York: Berg, 2006
at the RISD Main library, call number GT2130.S468 2006
description: Anyone who has ever shopped for a pair of shoes--especially anyone who does so with a passion--knows that shoes are much more than functional objects. From the sneaker to the stiletto, shoes have become potent signifiers of gender, class, personality, taste, and even politics. This lavishly illustrated work recounts the history of shoes with entertaining essays that cover everything from the eroticism of ancient shoe lacing, medieval fears about long-toed shoes, and the role of shoes in religious ritual to the infamous Chopine with a 23-inch heel and the modern cult of shoe designers. With 170 color photos and 30 black and white illustrations, the essays will entertain and inform casual shoe shoppers and fashionistas alike.

I just searched "sneakers" in the RISD library...a ton of things come up!


for "My Frame Museum"
Defining Edges: A New Look at Picture Frames/W.H. Bailey
New York, N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams, c2002
at the RISD Main Library, call number N8550.B33 2002
description: When I looked it up, the book seemed to have a detailed analysis of specific frames for certain famous works. I thought it might be interesting.


for "My Felt Museum"
The Art of Felt: Inspirational Designs, Textures and Surfaces/by Francoise Tellier-Loumagne
London: Thames & Hudson, 2008
at the RISD Main Library, call number TT849.5.T44 2008
description: I believe it's simply a "how to", but nonetheless, it seemed interesting.


for "My False Teeth Museum"
The Strange Story of False Teeth/John Woodforde
New York: Universe Books, 1970, c1968
at the RISD Main Library, call number RK641.W6 1970


I realize all of these are from the RISD library, but as Brown students, we have access, and they have a really great collection. Hope some of these suggestions end up being useful...they all seemed interesting.

Elaine's bibliographic suggestions, round one

Kristen's Perfume Museum:
Alain Corbain, *The Foul and The Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination*--a great history of how things smell and smelled

Jeuin's Mercury Museum:
"Mercury Exposure from Interior Latex Paint" New England Journal of Med--I got it from Google.  Mercury replaced lead in paint, damaging paint factory workers and consumers.

Jonathan's Vinyl Museum:
Motown's website
Dynamicsun.com--site of record factory in E. Newark, NJ

Pablo's False Teeth:
See denture-making program at NYC Tech College

Nick's Microprocessor Museum:
AK Bagchi and R. Sanaddar, eds. *New Technology and the Workers' Response: Microelectronics, Labour and Society.*  Microprocessors in India from a variety of political economic viewpoints accding to book review.

Montana's Sneaker Museum:
United Students Against Sweatshops
Nike website
See the work of Gary Simmons, a young NYC artist (or younger than me anyway)--he has a bronze sculpture of sneakered feet on the subway.

Jordan's Suggestions

Hey Everyone, my suggestions are as follows (Hope these are helpful!):

~For My Perfume Museum (Found through RISD library): 
Burr, Chandler. The Perfect Scent: a year behind the scenes of the perfume industry in Paris and New York. 1. New York: Herry Holt, 2007.

~For My False Teeth Museum (Found through JSTOR):
"False Teeth Are Fitted to a Million-Year Old Ape". The Science News-Letter 31(1937): 218-219+222.

~For My Frame Museum (Found through RISD library):
Wilner, Eli. Gilded edge: Art of the Frame. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000.

~For My Website Museum (Found through JSTOR):
March, Luke. "Russian Parties and the Political Internet." Europe-Asia Studies 56(2004): 369-400.

~And finally, For My Aspirin Museum (Quote from unreleased short film - "Only Diamonds"):
"Never go to the nurse for aspirin, it's not worth the emotional roller-coaster" - maybe, you can do something with that, haha - it's just kind of my favorite ambiguous quote ever...

Sunday, October 5, 2008

My Sneaker Museum

Montana Blanco

history of the athletic shoe, utilitarian usage, intersections of gender and race in dress,  media representation, vernacular, production and labor politics . . .

JOSIAH

Vanderbilt, Tom. The Sneaker Book: Anatomy of an Industry and Icon. 
New York: New Press, 1998.

Eicher, Joanne, ed. Dress and Ethnicity: Change and Space Over Time.
Oxford; Washington D.C. : Berg, 1995

Tulloch, Carol, ed. Black Style
London; V&A Publications, 2004.

JSTOR

Dale Coye "The Sneakers/Tennis Shoe Boundary"
American Speech, Vol. 61. No. 4 (Winter, 1986) pp 366-369.

MY MERCURY MUSEUM


EFFECTS OF MERCURY POISONING?!?!*
(Image found on Google Images. Illustration by John Tenniel for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)


From the Providence Public Library:


Emsley, John. Elements of Murder : The History of Poison
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2005.


From JSTOR:

Seiya Yamaguchi, Hisao Matsumoto, Sachiko Matsuo, Shunsuke Kaku and Michiyo Hoshide. “Relationship between Mercury Content of Hair and Amount of Fish Consumed”
HSMHA Health Reports, Vol. 86, No. 10 (Oct., 1971), pp. 904-909

Keith Spalding. “A Theory concerning the Mad Hatter”
The Modern Language Review, Vol. 46, No. 3/4 (Jul. - Oct., 1951), pp. 442-444

Jeri Weiss, Luke Trip and Kathryn R. Mahaffey. “Human Exposures to Inorganic Mercury”
Public Health Reports (1974-), Vol. 114, No. 5 (Sep. - Oct., 1999), pp. 400-401

ALSO,
Various websites, New York Times articles, etc.

-Jieun Reiner


*while many hatters did indeed suffer from severe mercury poisoning, the “Mad Hatter” created by Carroll did not exhibit true symptoms.

My Vinyl Museum


“Moreover, as one young collector and disc jockey explained to me, records have served as a ‘vinyl museum’ for the preservation and maintenance of Caleño popular culture and identity” (Lise Waxer. “Record Grooves and Salsa Dance Moves: The Viejoteca Phenomenon in Cali, Colombia” Popular Music, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan., 2001), pp. 61-81)

JSTOR

Philip Auslander “Looking at Records” TDR (1988-), Vol. 45, No. 1 (Spring, 2001), pp. 77-83

Eric W. Rothenbuhler and John Durham PetersDefining Phonography: An Experiment in Theory” The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 81, No. 2 (Summer, 1997), pp. 242-264

Ebscohost

SPIN THE BLACK CIRCLE.
By: Christman, Ed. Billboard, 7/19/2008, Vol. 120 Issue 29, p26-26
Mastering Vinyl. (cover story) By: Robair, Gino. Electronic Musician, Mar2008, Vol. 24 Issue 3, p54-59
'It kind of gives you that vintage feel': vinyl records and the trope of death. By: Yochim, Emily Chivers; Biddinger, Megan. Media, Culture & Society, Mar2008, Vol. 30 Issue 2, p183-195

Josiah
Setting the record straight : a material history of classical recording
Symes, Colin, 1945-
Middletown, Conn. : Wesleyan University Press, c2004
Fanning the flames : fans and consumer culture in contemporary Japan / edited by William W. Kelly Published Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, c2004 Descript'n ix, 202 p. : ill. ; 24 cm (Chapter 7: Vinyl record collecting as material practice : the Japanese case / Shuhei Hosokawa, Hideaki Matsuoka)


“The most recent technological development has, in any case, continued what was begun there: the possibility of inscribing music without it ever having sounded has simultaneously reified it in an even more inhuman manner and also brought it mysteriously closer to the character of writing and language.”
-The Form of the Phonograph Record
Theodor W. Adorno and Thomas Y. Levin
October
, Vol. 55, (Winter, 1990), pp. 56-61


Jonathan Coleman

Perfume Museum

Kristen Schindler

Josiah (books)
The Perfume Industry of Mycenaean Pylos/Cynthia Wright Shelmerdine

Fragrance: The psychology and biology of perfume/S. van Toller and G.H. Dodd

JSTOR (articles)
Kewda Perfume Industry in India/P.K. Dutta, H.O. Saxena, and M. Brahmam

New York Times 
Fragrance Market is Establishing a Foothold in China/Chandler Burr

The perfume market, how it's made, and how far back in history the notion of perfume goes are things I want to further explore.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

MUSEUM of FALSE TEETH

G. W.'S FALSE TEETH


Journal Articles (from JSTOR)

Crubézy, E., Murail, P., Girard, L., Bernadou, J.-P. "False Teeth of the Roman World". Nature 391 (1998): 29.

Jones, David. "Falsified Teeth." Nature 353 (1991): 608.

Orellana, Claudia. "False accounts for False Teeth in Germany." The Lancet 360 (2002): 1849.  

Images from Google Image Search


Books (Josiah)

Wynbrandt, James. The Excruciating History of Dentistry. New York: St Martin's, 1998.

Books (Google Books)

Woodforde, John. The Strange Story of False Teeth. London: Routlege, 1968.







"I imagine so," said Verily. "In fact, one of his extraordinary talents is the ability to see through the hexes of illusion. Did you know that? ... For instance, he sees through the hex you use to keep people from seeing that little trick you play with your false teeth. Did you know that?"
"Trick!" She was mortified. "False teeth! What a terrible thing to say!"
"Do you or do you not have false teeth?"
Marty Laws was on his feet. "Your honor, I can't see what relevancy false teeth have to the matter at hand." ...
"False teeth is a bit personal, don't you think?" asked the Judge.
"And accusing my client of seducing her isn't?" asked Verily. 
The judge smiled. "Objection overruled. I think the prosecution opened the door wide enough for such questions."

FROM ALVIN JOURNEYMAN, BY ORSON SCOTT CARD: FOUND BY GOOGLE BOOKS SEARCH



PABLO LARIOS

My Microprocessor Museum

From Google:
Intel Education. "Inside the Manufacturing Process; how chips are made." Intel Corporation. Accessed: 4 Oct 2008. http://www.intel.com/education/makingchips/index.htm

From Harper's Magazine Archives:
Turner, Frederick W. "Escape From Modernism: technology and the future of the imagination".
Harper's Magazine. November 1984. http://harpers.org/archive/1984/11/0025490

From EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier:
"Computers and Telecommunications." World Almanac & Book of Facts. EBSCOhost. 4 Oct 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24123414&site=ehost-live

From EBSCOhost Historical Abstracts:
Zatlin, Jonathan R. "Out of Sight: industrial espionage, ocular authority, and east german communism, 1965-1989." Contemporary European History. 2008 17(1). EBSCOhost. 4 Oct 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hia&AN=H800041768.01&site=ehost-live


--Nick Greene

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Jordan's New Object - Condoms

So I've completely decided against constructing my museum around glass pipes/marijuana. Instead, I'm composing my museum on condoms - the history of their design (latex,non-latex,etc.), their purpose, their social ramifications, their conflicts with religion, and the disparity between condom usage in Western civilizations and that of African nations (where HIV is running ramped).

-My sources thus far are as follows (once again acquired through JSTOR):

Wulfert, Edelgard, and Choi Wan. "Safer Sex Intentions and Condom Use Viewed from a Health Belief, Reasoned Action, and Social Cognitive Perspective." The Journal of Sex Research 4(1995): 299-311.

Jobling, Paul. "The Politics of Pleasure and Gender in the Promotion of Condoms in Britain, 1970-1982." Journal of Design History 10(1997): 53-70.

Morroni, Chelsea, Jennifer Smit, Lynn McFadyen, and Mmabatho Mqhayi. "Dual Protection against Sexually Transmitted Infections and Pregnancy in South Africa." African Journal of Reproductive Health. 7(2003): 13-19.

Smit, Jennifer, Lynn McFeyden, Harrison Abigail, and Khangelani Zuma. "Where is the Condom? Contraceptive Practice in a Rural District of South Africa." Women's Health and Action Research Centre (WHARC). 6(2002): 71-78.

Walsh, Terri, Ron Frezieres , Karen Peacock, and Anita Nelson. "Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Nonlatex Condom: Results from a Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial." Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 35(2003): 79-86.