Souvenir and Collection

Prompt 1

On page 136 Stewart writes, “The souvenir is by definition always incomplete. The object is metonymic to the scene of its original appropriation in the sense that it is a sample.” I also appreciate that the souvenir is not necessarily a homomaterial replica; it can be a representation in another medium. This makes me think about how literal this replica must be to maintain its function as souvenir, or how much of the (whole) must exist. It also links back to the Mike Kelley reading Playing With Dead Things where he talks about redundancy in sculpture, and sculpture as uncolored. If I remember correctly it was this reading that discusses the function of art that purely replicates objects based on their exactitude of color and form.

This made me think about Robert Dawson’s ceramic work. He plays with the idea of the traditional souvenir or collection with an unconventional perspective. Some of his pieces are prints on china that challenge the inherent delicacy and untouchability of those objects.

The souvenir in my own work mostly comes through ideas of memory or nostalgia. My more recent project that measured and cataloged the Florida coast through a series of solo picnics was all about the importance of embedded memory in place making. Each picnic used a series of constants (my gridded picnic blanket, the empty vessels for food and collecting, a book). I would collect souvenirs at each site as a way of cataloguing site, smell, shape and texture for each place.

Robert Dawson _ In Perspective Willow 1

Robert Dawson _ Spin

Robert Dawson _ Spin

Prompt 2

On page 159 Stewart goes on to say, “The finite boundaries these objects afford are played against the infinite possibility of their collection, and, analogously, their finite use value when filled is played against their measureless emptiness that marks their new aesthetic function”. This makes me think about earlier chapters in On Longing where Stewart discusses the importance of understanding something through its absence. Page 27, “We might emphasize the importance of a given moment by its absence, by the study of its surroundings, thus making the reader feel that there is a lacuna in the fabric of what is being narrated, or something that is being hidden”. For one I think Stewart is communicating that to better conceptualize ideas of infinity we need to measure something against the actual or the finite. This duality of the infinite to the finite is the collection being measured against the inherent physical limitations of an object.

I came across a collection that really excited me. A 79-year man in Italy has a giant rock collection, all collected from the same river. What I totally love about this is how arbitrary and deeply personal the collection is. There isn’t anything inherently valuable or culturally significant about his collection yet he goes to extreme lengths to both acquire and exhibit these objects. In this sense the infinite personal value these rocks have for the collector impresses me most. I’d love to learn more about the rhythm and reason behind choosing which rocks to take and how the method of grouping them.