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    9 views29 pages

    Turkle Evocative Objects PDF

    Uploaded by

    Taly Rivas

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 29
    Evocative Objects Things We Think With edited by Sherry Turkle ‘The MET Pose Cambuiae, Marcochurts Landon, gland INTRODUCTION: THE THINGS THAT MATTER Sherry Turkle grew up hoping that objects would connect me to the world. Asa child, [spent many weekend at my grand- parents’ apartment in Brookivn. Space there was lim- sted, and all ofthe arly keepaakes—inchuding my aunts and my mother's books, trinkets, sawvenis, ancl photo- grophs—were stored in a kitchen closet, set high, just below the ceiling, [could reach this eache only by stand- ing on the kitchen table thet I moved in front of the closet. This [had been given permission tod, ai this, is what 1 did, from age six to age thirteen or fourteen, cover and over, weekend after weekend. I would climb ‘onto the table i the kitchen and tale dawn every book, ‘every box. The rules were that Iwas allowed to look at anything in the closet, but I was alteays to put i back. ‘The closet seemed to me af infinite dimensions, infinite depth Each object I found in the eloset—every keychain, postcard, unpaired earring, high school textbook with its marginalia, some of my mother's sote of it my aunt's signaled anew understanding of who they were ‘and wast they might be interested in; every photograph ‘of my mother on a date or at a dance became a clue to ‘my possible identity. My biological father had been an absent figure since [was two, My mother fad lft him, Wenever spoke about him. Irwas taboo toraise the eub- Jeet, did not feel permitted to even think about the subject. My aunt shared the small apartment with my ‘grandmother and grandfather, and sometimes one of them would come into the kitchen to watch me at min vestigations. At the time I didn’t know what I was look: ingfor-Ithink they did. was looking, without awareness, for the one who was missing, Iwas looking for trace of my father. But they hed been there before me and got ten rid of any bits ani pleces he might have left—an acddress book, a business card, a random note. Once I found a photograph of a man standing on a boardwalk ‘with his face cutout of the picture, [never asked whose face it waa; Ilnew. And l knew enough never tomention the photograph, for fear that it too would disappear. I ‘was precious to me. The image had been attacked, but it contained so many missing puaale pieces. What his hhands looked like, That he wore lace-up shoes, That his pants were teed If being stventive to the details of people's lives might be considered a vocation, mine was born in the smell and feel of the memory closet and its objects. ‘That is where I found the musty books, photographs, ccorsages, and gloves that made me fel connected. That is where I determined that I would solve mysteries and that I would use objects as my clues. Years from then, in the late 19603, I studied in Paris immersed inthe ntelleetual word af French struc- rurale. While was away, my grandparents moved out of their apartment, where the contents of the memory tloset had been so safdly contained, Much ofthe closes contents were dispersed, sent toan organization that col lected books tobe readto the blind. Far away from home, {was dlatressed at theloss ofthe objects but somewhat comforted to realize that { now had a set of ideas for thinking about them. In Paris, I read the work of the an- thropelogist Claude Lévi-Strauss, who described brico: lage as a way of combining and recombining a closed set of materials to come up with new ideas. Material things, for Lévi-Strauss, were goodsto-think-with and, following, the pun in French, ther were good-to-hinke-with as well While in France, {realzed that during my many hours with the memory close: had done more than daydream {deus into old photograahs. When [frst met the notion of bricolage, i already seemed like a childhood friend Shen Tale Ideas about bricolage were presented to me in the cool cognitive light of French intellectual life. But the ob- {ects Itred tocombineand recombine as achild had been ‘hues for tracing my lost father, an experience of brico- lage with a high emotional intensity, So, from my fst introduction tothe ides in te late 1960, began tocon- sider bricolage as a passionate practice ‘We fin it familiar to consider objects a8 useful or aes- ‘thetic, a8 necessities or vain indulgences, We are on less {familiar ground when we consider objects ss companions, to our emotional ives or as provocations to thought. The notion of evocative objects brings together these to less {amilar ideas, underscoring the inseparabiity of thought ‘and feling in our relationship to things. We think with the objects we love; we lve the objects we think with, In this collection of autobiographical 39ays, sci- fentists, humanists, artists, and designers trace the power of objects in thle lives, objects that connect thers toidess and to people, Some ofthe objects described in this book are natural: an apple. Some are artifacts: a train, Some were made by the author: @ knot, Others ‘were presented ready-made: The Nord Book Eneyciope dig, Certain authors reflect on an object's role in a ig- nificant life transtion—an object serves at marker of relationship and emotional connection. In other essays, the balance shifts to how an object tied the author ta in- tellectua ife—to bullding theory, discoveringscience or fart, choosing a vocation. In every case, the object brings together intellect and emotion, In every case, the a thors focus is not on the objec’s instrumental power — how fast the train travels of how fast the computer ccleulates—but on the abject as & companion in life ex perience: how the tran connects emational worlds, how the mental space between computer Keyboard and screen creates a sense of erotic possiblity “This collection begins with essays on the theme of discovery and Jearning, and then, fllowing the arc of the lifecycle, the essays discuss the opportunities and challenges of adulthcod—the navigation of love and loss—and finally, the confrontation with transcendent issues such as spirituality and the sublime. Life, of course, isnot lived in discrete stages, nor are the rela- tionships with objects that accompany ts journey. b- Jects have life roles that are multiple and fl We live our ives in the middle of things. Materiel culture carries emotions and ideas of startlingintensity Yer only recently have objects begun to receive the at- tention they deserve ‘The acknowledgnentof the power of ebjectshas not come easy. Behind the reticence to examine abjects as centerpicees of emotional fe was perhaps the sense that fone wae studying materialism, disparaged as excess, or collecting, diaparaged ss hobyem, or fetishism, dispar- faged ss perversion. Bind the reticence to examine ob- jects as centerpieces of thought was the value placed, ‘atleast within the Western tradition, on formal, propos tional ways of knowing. I thinking about science, cer tainly, abstract ressonng wns traditionally recognized as ‘standard, canonical

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