Objects in Flux - RMIT Research Repository - RMIT University

2.
2.1 Introduction
Rethinking Objects
Much of the time, in our day-to-day lives, we treat objects as fixed,
unchanging things; they exist for us in a ‘discourse of objectivity that
allows us to use them as facts’ (Brown, 2001, p. 4). But objects are
never simple, material facts – they are complex events. A range of
social forces are at play within an object’s design and production, and
further, within the sphere of consumption, where an object’s identity
is formed and re-formed through various acts of engagement. The
specific nature of these contexts, shaped by personal and social histories
and the needs and desires of the constituting actors, produces a
series of modulated object identities. Within this dynamic social field,
objects exist in a state of flux.
Coming to an understanding of objects that both acknowledges their
perpetual social production while giving adequate account of their
material presence is essential for the development of this research,
for if we are to interrogate what it means to re-make an object then
we need to be clear about what, exactly, is being remade. With this
in mind, the following text seeks to establish a general framework
through which the project’s material and social adventures may be
examined. Drawing heavily from science and technology studies, this
chapter begins with an account of objects as ‘social constructs’. From
here the role of materiality is brought into question and the intertwined
natures of matter and meaning are explored. Further to this, an object’s
[Figure 2-1 – facing page]
Kitchen cupboard handle attached
to the boot of a Ford Falcon sedan,
Melbourne, Australia, 2004.
Image is author’s own.
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