Tying in with our ‘Box Clever’ project where our studio work is being inspired by the objects we collected, this week’s post-lecture task was to find a video about an extreme collector, and explore it in light of Jean Baudrillard’s text ‘The System of Collecting’. As my box is filled with things to play with, I searched for videos about toy collectors. I soon found this guy who, quite arguably, has rather a lot of Barbie dolls...
Baudrillard suggests that true collecting begins when an object is ‘divested of its function’ (p.8), and the owner starts amassing things not to utilise or use them, but in order to simply possess them. In this video, Stanley’s set of Barbies certainly seem to fall into that category. Covering four whole rooms from ceiling to floor, the dolls are neatly lined up in individual plastic cases on special shelves, giving the impression that they exist purely to be displayed, rather than to ever be taken out and played with- let alone by children! Stanley refers to the rooms as his ‘museum’, suggesting the pride and importance he views his collection with, and linking to Baudrillard’s description of collecting as a ‘passionate enterprise’ (p.8). Although he already has 2,000 dolls, the title of the video itself suggests that his ‘addiction’, and therefore his collection, will only continue to grow. The term ‘addict’ almost makes the video seem confessional, as if by showing his collection to the world, the obsessive behaviour behind it is justified and given reason.
Baudrillard has noted: ‘a single object can never be enough’, and Stanley’s nickname as the ‘Barbie-man’ illustrates how his obsession has even become to define him as a person. His blunt declaration that he would ‘never stop collecting’, implies the extent to which his habit has become ingrained into him. There is no sense that Stanley is collecting in order to reach an end or a target, rather, he seems to be collecting because it has become his way of life.The way Stanley ‘welcomes’ the viewer to his collection at the start, and then gestures to different Barbies of note throughout the video, fits with Baudrillard’s observation that the collector’s ‘fullest satisfaction... [is in] the prestige the object enjoys in the eyes of other people’ (p.18). The video also seems to be a way to showing off and receiving admiration for the collection. But, then, with a collection of this size- why not, I suppose?!
Biblography Text- Baudrillard, J. (1994) The System of Collecting. In: Cardinal, R. ed. Elsner, J. ed. The Cultures of Collecting. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Video- Barcroft TV (2013) I'm addicted to Barbie [Internet] Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV6ENrtXjuA [Accessed 7/11/13]
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