The Gaudy

I will be writing about the gaudy, or the tacky...

-Kristen

The Gritty

I will be writing on the gritty. I find that the aggregate of the coarse, the dirty, the rotten, and the decaying is the gritty. As our readings have suggested, objects such as the miniature can function as mirrors of us as both objects and humans represent a container of sorts. Both the object-container and the human-container inevitably undergo a process of deterioration. Accordingly, we are disturbed by the gritty as it reminds us of not only the transitory nature of the lives of things but also the transitory nature of our own lives. The gritty represents an object at the terminal end of its "social life" as Appadurai would say. Comparably, as we age our skin become coarse and rough like the landscape of the gritty, our organs - the very stuff we contain - become rotten and contaminated like the raw interior of the gritty. Discomforting as it may be, the gritty provides a constant and often unwelcoming projection of our inescapable future: expiration. Thus, it is unsurprising that we do not desire to obtain or claim the gritty - its demand is minimal. But in a way, the objects that occupy the realm of the gritty are "inalienable possessions" in their own right, as we cannot escape the ramifications of the sheer existence of the gritty. Regardless of the mode of interaction (be it physical or cognitive), the gritty downright disturbs us, incessantly priming us with mortality.

~Jordan Carter~

The Acidic

I'll be writing about the Acidic.

-Emily

The Instant

I will be writing about The Instant.


--Nicole

The radioactive

I'd like to write a paper about the radioactive, how we define it (and control it) culturally. It is precisely its uncontainability that interests me. Also, its formlessness which is not simply form-defying but deforming. I will revisit gestures which domesticate the radioactive, such as the use of isotopes on luminescent watch dials, also ones that profit from the radioactive, like x-ray machines and finally nuclear power, a promise of labour without labor...limitless, free energy. Everywhere, however, there is the labor of containing the radioactive, and its menace. What is the true productivity of radioactivity but accelerated genetic mutation? I wonder if new calls for nuclear energy in these end-times of the fossil fuel are linked to changing attitudes towards "the radioactive."

At present, I am still casting about for a theoretical apparatus but god-willing it will be found, if I have to split the library to do it!

--Andrew

I will be writing on the suspended.

Hans

I will be writing on "the perishable" 

- Hollis Mickey