Viewers Make Meaning

Kitsch objects are objects portraying "cheap" cultural icons that are mass-produced, and unoriginal. Some people refer to kitsch trends as objects of bad taste. However, kitsch is doing very well in the marketing world. I'll post two examples of kitsch icons, Hello Kitty, and of course the Playboy bunny. Hello Kitty was originally meant for kids. Now you can even find Hello Kitty laptops, toasters, bathrooms, cellphones, expensive jewelry and surprise surprise, even sex toys!! (Note the controversy)

It's ironic how Hello Kitty, a childhood icon, has come to sell adult products, and Playboy, which is strictly intended for adults, is also selling stationery items that are usually purchased by children. Also, some women enjoy wearing expensive Playboy jewelry. Go figure!

Kitsch uses popular images to sell cheap and popular products. Bricolage, on the other hand is another          concept altogether, that I find pretty interesting. It is "a mode of adaptation in which things (mostly commodities) are put to uses for which they were not intended and in ways that dislocate them from their normal or expected context". I found some examples of Bricolage in which an object is used in a way that it means something other than what it was originally meant to mean.

What do we see? An orange of course. One of my personal favorite fruits. It also contains Vitamins C in large quantities, so it's also healthy. Shown to anyone all over the planet, that is what this image would mean. However, in Lebanon, we have a way of politicizing everything. The orange is not just a fruit. It's the iconic symbol of some affluent political party in the country. So, the bricolage here was in using the orange for political means, out of its original food related context. 

Birkenstock! I love Birkenstock! They're just so comfortable and ergonomic. Originally, Birkenstock were born in Germany, and even today, most of them are manufactured there. In Lebanon, and in the US too, Birkenstock are worn as part of our everyday clothing. In Lebanon, they are also worn at parties or at work, occasionally. Birkenstock are not cheap and they have become very trendy around here. However, if you ever go to Germany, you find that people over there don't wear Birkenstock as part of their everyday clothing, but use them instead as house slippers. This is what they were originally intended for, that and for medical purposes, like helping to heal wounds and feet injuries. Bricolage has made Birkenstock a stylish clothing item.

Another cool example of Bricolage would be the use of chopsticks as hair ornaments. Chopsticks are meant to be used with food in asian cultures. Even in the West, they are used to eat sushi, noodles, etc... Girls and women alike, use chopsticks in their hair too. I personally use it a lot to pull up my very long hair. It is very efficient in that sense. It holds the hair together and doesn't loosen up.