Lataa ilmaiseksi

Consequently, it started to seem that the analogy of people running and
curating hotels, museums and galleries should make a point about how
designed products are sometimes problematic and not just solutions. Looked
at from that point of view, some of the product biographies in the data started
to take on a new kind of importance. In addition to the products finding
their places in the home, there were stories about products not finding their
places, not becoming a part of the daily routines, products that were annoying,
depressing or just confusing. The presence of such products was explained
with practical reasons: the product is used and stored in a home because of the
renovation, apartment, pets, relatives or children or because right now it is an
open question what could be the best solution to the problem (of an annoying
product) in the household. In effect, the household is waiting that the situation
changes and in the meantime settles on living with what they themselves see
as a compromise.
At first, I referred to those situations of a household seeming to be stuck
as a “purgatory”. According to Wikipedia, in addition to its original theological
meaning, the word means “any place or condition of suffering or torment,
especially one that is temporary”. But then I realised that I was putting words
into my interviewees’ mouths: I was seeing painful suffering and anxiety where
there in the household was indifference or mild amusement. Curiously enough,
I found another theological term, “limbo”, which I believe describes better the
situation when the curating comes to a halt. Limbo, in colloquial speech, is a
waiting plane between actions where, according to Wikipedia, “nothing can be
done until another action happens”. This chapter takes a closer look at some
such stories in the data.
6 D E S I G N L I M B O
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