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Rosalynn Rothstein

The Object Ethnography Project - 27 views

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started by Rosalynn Rothstein on 04 Apr 12
  • Rosalynn Rothstein
    #1 Rosalynn Rothstein on 04 Apr 12
  • John Fenn
    #2 John Fenn on 10 Apr 12
     
    an intriguing project, esp. since it appears to be one of many such efforts floating around the web focused on the "materiality" of life & the everyday. I'm curious as to what constitutes "ethnography" here, as it is more about "exchange-ography" in many ways...
  • Rosalynn Rothstein
    #3 Rosalynn Rothstein on 24 Apr 12
     
    I agree that the use of ethnography here seems questionable. However, in many ways that is what is interesting about it. I think for some fields ethnography has come to stand in for ethical. You come across projects like this, especially in fine art, that seem to use the term in that was and ignore the historical and methodological context of the term. Other projects by the same person (Max Liboiron) focus on the exchange of items and the artistic value of waste in general. (such as http://emedia.art.sunysb.edu/maxliboiron/webpages/RT.html)
  • nathan_georgitis
    #4 nathan_georgitis on 26 Apr 12
     
    I like the accretion of narrative around image.
  • Rosalynn Rothstein
    #5 Rosalynn Rothstein on 08 May 12
     
    After thinking about this project, and a couple of the other projects I have posted where ethnography/fine art are intersecting or fine artists are specifically employing ethnography as an methodological or ethical stance, perhaps the best way we can think about some of these projects is by extracting some of the methods they use which are successful in engaging people or participants. How are they attracting people or groups to work with and what are these projects that are successful in engaging participation and feedback?
  • Mara Williams
    #6 Mara Williams on 22 May 12
     
    I'm interested in this as an intervention in making ethnography happen. Rather than finding existing communities doing this sort of exchange (I'm thinking about mail art and zine communities especially), this group is creating a space for this to happen.

    What seems to take it into the realm of big E ethnography for me is the NYU address on the call for participation. Anywhere else (is this just freecycling for an academic cv?), and I wouldn't think of it as "ethnography." Though I'm not super invested in the term ethnography, I'm very interested in the ways that art and cultural production overlaps with research. I'm heartened to see projects that resist exclusively scientific organization of knowledge. Affectively engaging research is exciting - but I'm not sure this is it. Interesting bibliography though - do any of the linked projects self-identify as ethnographies?
  • Savanna Bradley
    #7 Savanna Bradley on 29 May 12
     
    I suppose another view point on the significance of ethnography in this context would be the importance of objects telling the story of a place, rather than the actual place... In such a materialistic and fairly nomadic culture, objects become just as important to a story of place as actually being there. They serve as a starting point for triggering memories of past events or 'the way things were'... this project is interesting in that it tells these stories as the context of place changes for the object, telling not just stories associated with that particular object, but also stories that are triggered by memories of similar objects... The site itself then becomes a place where these stories can be told, no matter their actual distance.... but yes, fairly vague on the ethnography side of things...
  • Rosalynn Rothstein
    #8 Rosalynn Rothstein on 30 May 12
     
    While we are talking about this project, we should probably also take a look at this project (http://significantobjects.com/). This ended in the sale of the objects. From one of the steps of the project, "A participating writer is paired with an object. He or she then writes a fictional story, in any style or voice, about the object. Voila! An unremarkable, castoff thingamajig has suddenly become a "significant" object!" How does this change the whole idea of adding value to an object by telling a story about it or from the perspective of the object.

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