Commodities
January 3, 2009
Karl Marx (1818-1883):
A commodity is, in the first place, an object outside us, a thing that by its properties satisfies human wants of some sort or another. The nature of such wants, whether, for instance, they spring from the stomach or from fancy, makes no difference. Neither are we here concerned to know how the object satisfies these wants, whether directly as means of subsistence, or indirectly as means of production.
January 11, 2009 at 8:44 pm
[...] Rigaud perfume bottle with an altered label, Francesco Vezzoli has created a signature perfume for the contemporary moment. Greed’s label features Vezzoli in drag, photographed by Francesco Scavullo, where Duchamp [...]
February 1, 2009 at 7:35 am
This applies to commodities of the general class -the class of commodities that Marx spent most time on in ‘Capital’. However, it does not apply to that special, unique commodity in capitalist society: labour power. This commodity is the only one that can generate more value than it takes to create and sustain it. Furthermore, it is not ‘outside’ of us; it is part of our ’selves’, our personhood.
For more on this go to: http://www.flowideas.co.uk
Glenn Rikowski
February 11, 2009 at 7:21 pm
[...] or something: you only need to whisper his name and whatever it touches is instantly and gloriously commodified). And I bet as many people in the art world have their eye on his health and well being as the [...]
March 3, 2009 at 10:54 pm
[...] Absolutely. It’s a balancing act. Because if it’s popular, it’s just a commodity that goes into the record stores and marketplace. And it gets marketed and prostituted in every [...]