Gathering Dust:
Living in an Age of Neglected Items
Living in an Age of Neglected Items:
My TEDz talk was based around the hypothesis of us living in an 'Age of Neglected Items'. This age of neglected items is driven by consumerism, which at it roots is not actually promoted by the 'system', but is actually sensory notions we each have that are heightened and exploited through consumerism. These sensory notions, and what consumerism is driven by, are a craving for novelty, subjective enjoyment and instability (in that you will never be satisfied with the object / state).
I expanded this thesis by first illustrating the global scale of neglected items:
100 billion new garments are made every year, yet 300,000 tonnes of it is wasted
Gathering Dust: My perspective:
At the individual scale, over £3,000 worth of unused items are stored within the average UK home. I observed the unused items and spaces within my home and questioned the audience as to which items are 'gathering dust', in their own homes. I illustrated this through a variety of images and data that I collected around my home.
Fight for Neglected Items:
We need to reduce the waste economy and increase the sharing economy. This age of neglected items has led us to live more individualistically and also means that items are not utilised to their full potential. I expanded upon the idea of 3ForAll, which encourages neighbourhoods to share their unused items so that every item that is owned within a neighbourhood is being used to its full potential.
Putting it into Practice:
I showed examples of Declutter Jenga, including the three questions which drive the game which are: "Does this bring joy", "Why do I still have this item?", "Would it be best served elsewhere?". I also described the Öppet hus principle that I put into practice as well as also showing the video of mapping people's movements in the home.
ShareHouse:
I then expanded into my early stages of the design phase for the ShareHouse, a space where the neighbourhood can share their items. I also described the context of my neighbourhood, illustrating the street as a playground.
Future:
I landed on speaking about the future. How consumerism and the 'Age of Neglected items' devalues utility and our responsibilites. A craving for novelty has led to cheaper production which has led to slave labour, excess waste and environmental issues. It has made us blind to our choices the more that we have gotten removed from the source of production.
We must counter this age of neglected items and take a circular approach to our possessions through repair, resuse, iteracting and learning.
Craving for novelty will always lead to dissapointment, subjective enjoyment will always fall short and the continuing instability of consumerism means that we will never find rest.
Let's not gather dust - but gather a following!
The TEDz Talk PDF can be found on this link. Check my more up to date blog post for the video footage of the TEDz talk.
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