Ikea, Friends & interrogation
I did two things for the first time over the weekend: I watched an episode of 'Friends' and I went shopping to Ikea.
I was struck by the similarities between the two. Baudrillard talks about shopping centres as being places where you are interrogated, subjected. Whilst this may sound (yet again) like a philosophical abstraction, it was not: I went there with the vague intention of buying something and was eventually spat out of the vast machine having bought nothing but instead realised that I had no clear picture of what kinds of things I wanted to buy - I just hadn't realised how many questions there could be about 'homeware' - and it was clear to me that I had no answers to any of the questions about 'lifestyle' that Ikea presented me with. I felt as if I was going to have to go away and re-evaluate my whole approach to living space.
The other remarkable thing was the uncanniness of the 'user experience' - a long journey through fragments of fictitious lives - bisected kitchens, bedrooms, studies - sliced open like some Damien Hurst work to reveal the perfectly harmonious internals of some absent Swede. Each vignette exquisitely crafted by a team of designers - each one like a mould for a person - open the cupboards and (hey presto!) there are their clothes, open the drawers and you share their vision of cutlery selection. Rifle through their belongings while they are out at work... all in all a strangely voyeuristic and inauthentic experience. 'Sit in each house and decide what you want to be'. This is a place where you go to be defined.
And the same with Friends: deep fried friends. Dripping with something that you just know is bad for you, will probably clog your arteries, but is nevertheless gratifying in a sickly sort of way: a series of scenes, fragments of fictitious aspirational lives from which to choose - which in turn pose questions about which character you wish to be - and leave you with a vague feeling that your life is somehow less comical, less stylish, less exciting (jesus - what is that thing with them all getting together on a sofa in a coffee shop - how did I manage to miss out on that?).
I am sure such comments must seem naive, but to someone seeing these things for the first time this is how I am struck.
Incidentally, I did see something I liked in the end (but didn't buy): I was helping someone to shop for tiles - amongst all the ceramic and lino flooring there were some large, natural 'riven slate' tiles: each one a fantastic relief, each one a glorious mix of colour and texture. I thought I would like to frame them and put them on a wall. I hadn't seen anything like that in Ikea, but I may still do it.
On a separate note, those people who do not yet understand Warcraft could do worse than click here:
southpark & warcraft episode 1southpark & warcraft episode 2southpark & warcraft episode 3
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