“A Splendid Fetish”

                                                     

“yesterdays junk is tomorrow’s heirloom.”

– Arjun Appadurai

Valur Margeirsson was able to changed locals opinion towards the blue waste water after he started bathing there. What brought him to do so, what ever knowledge, research, curiosity or attraction towards the blue water he had, that led him to dive in, against the general advice of others, we won’t know. But what attracts people today to the Blue Lagoon is very different from what attracted Valur in the first place.

The Blue Lagoon as a commodity has a unique place on the market, it is special in many different ways, there are not many places in the world that resemble it thats why it is so attractive. But in the image society¹ we live in today you can argue that the lagoon is first consumed through the image, the brand.

“…No object or thing in this type of [consumer/market/image] society is fully enjoyed for its sheer materiality. It is always a means to some other end, however obscure that end might be.” – A. Appadurai²

From being a “dirt puddle” to being a nature resort the image of the Blue Lagoon has changed dramatically. The “thing”, the primary commodity is the brand, the idea of a relaxing time out in nature, which does not have any material quality, is free of objecthood ³, except being embedded in the minerals, the natural face mask you find on the bottom of the lagoon.

This dramatic change is possibly most noticeable in terms of it’s cultural importance today. What used to be a worthless waste has today become a national pride and an expensive experience, it moved on to some new state in its social life⁴. But where do we place our pride? In the convenience of the waste or in the brand, the object, the architecture that holds and attracts the consumer?

It might be argued that the ting itself is the image on the website. The architecture that has been created around the Blue Lagoon is only representative of the image. The image does not represent the site but is the thing which the brand sells and people see themselves consuming – becoming. The image perhaps has ceased to be identification and become participation.⁵

…no longer a subject, but an object: a thing, an image, a splendid fetish—a commodity soaked with desire. – Hito Steyerl⁶

 

¹ Appadurai, Arjun, Public Culture 18:1: The Thing Itself, Duke University Press, 2016,  p.16

² Appadurai, Arjun, Public Culture 18:1: The Thing Itself, Duke University Press, 2016,  p.16

³ Appadurai, Arjun, Public Culture 18:1: The Thing Itself, Duke University Press, 2016,  p.16

⁴ Appadurai, Arjun, Public Culture 18:1: The Thing Itself, Duke University Press, 2016,  p.16

⁵ Steyerl, Hito, A Thing Like You and Me, Journal #15 – April 2010. http://www.e-flux.com/journal/15/61298/a-thing-like-you-and-me/

⁶  Steyerl, Hito, A Thing Like You and Me, Journal #15 – April 2010. http://www.e-flux.com/journal/15/61298/a-thing-like-you-and-me/

 

Sindri Sigurðsson