The Unexamined Line
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Pelz’s target was the entire capitalist economy, including most of what was going on in the bustling aisles beneath us. “Capitalist globalization, unwittingly, is a movement toward a less human society,” he said. Not only will it have us all working around the clock for a pittance, it’s spreading the commodification of culture, transforming “countless activities that had been outside the sphere of the market into mere sources of profit.” He said we’re no longer active participants—we’re spectators and brand-crazed consumers. Shopping, once done out of necessity, is our favorite sport and addiction of choice. Culture, once rooted in local practice, is shrink-wrapped and sold. Sex is something you find on a Web site, and human organs are harvested for a price. Corporations create demand for the products they want to sell us, and we’ve come to value ourselves and others according to what we’re worth in the marketplace.
I called Pelz the next day to see if he had any specific thoughts on art, and he said it too (eureka!) has been commodified. “A few people with money get to decide what’s hot and who gets recognized.” Besides that, he added, art has degenerated into advertising. “I’m not a critic, but I think that’s one of the points Andy Warhol was making with his Campbell’s soup can.” He cited Amsterdam as a place where government supports art for the public benefit, and high heels are a prime example of a useless and damaging capitalist product. “I cannot imagine the use of high heels, except for causing ankle injuries,” he said. “What is the point of fashion designers constantly pushing them on women?” Aesthetics? I offered. “I was thinking of shoes as something to help you walk from one place to another,” he replied. I didn’t mention the vintage pair of Ferragamo spectators perched like a sculpture near my desk.
