There is a trend developing, or maybe it is fully developed, it’s a mentality that believes today is synonymous with passé. The Modernisms of the 20th century or rather Modernism 1.0, which used today as a platform for making a better tomorrow and Postmodernism or Modernism 2.0, which used today to criticize yesterday have run their course. The 21st century’s idea of Modernism, uses today to make a newer tomorrow. is not concerned with what is better or worse. We all saw Modernism 1.0 fail in its attempt to make change for the better. has nothing to do with changing for the better, it’s only concerned with changing. This type of change isn’t so much about progress as it is about giving the impression of progress. The parenthetical title to this new is shopping. Today will be fossilized overnight, ancient by breakfast tomorrow and replaced by noon. Fossilization will set in again by dinner.
It sounds twisted but in between clicking through websites searching for a newer pair of Deisel™ jeans at Urban Outfitters™ and being a voyeur on Myspace we can open up YouTube in a new tab and watch the hanging of Sadaam Hussein all while downloading Volta, the new Bjork album that doesn’t hit the shelves for another week for free through Bittorrent™, blocking Popups and seeing I have new mail through Growl™, all in the middle third of my screen. In the meantime, on the starboard side I’ve opened Mail™ through Quicksilver™ and scanned articles about global warming, the Chelsea art market, and the war in my NyTimes™ RSS feed. Simultaneously on the wayward side I decided to get a Matcha Green Tea Blast with a free protein boost at Jamba Juice with someone I just met online through iChat™, on my way to Whole Foods™ via DSW™ to get a new pair of Vans after I window shop at Forever21™ (you know, they carry guys stuff now, but they are already cutting back on the selection, which doesn’t matter because I hate that store, even though it carries clothes that look exactly like the ones I’m wearing only cheaper). And I can do all this in a single window in Safari™ (sorry, Firefox™ and Internet Exploder™) on my new Apple™ iMac™ G5™. It sounds ludicrous that this is actually happening but it’s totally normal and I didn’t even mention one of my three iPods™ (or my new iPhone™ which is all of this in one little device). All of this happens in less than ten seconds and I thought I was doing good. I don’t even have a T.V. I don’t even do drugs. Maybe I should. Two years just went by and I accrued $90,000 dollars of debt. What has happened and should I be worried?
We are living longer but I feel like my life is being abbreviated, it’s like a Max Headroom stutter. Life has been reduced to Icons, Tabs, Emails, RSS, apple+Cs, apple+Vs, LOLs, AOLs, MOVs, MP3s, BRBs (take a sip of coffee), OMGs, RGBs, MBs, MFAs, DVDs, TXTs, PPIs, PNGs, HTTPs and ADD (the funny thing is that I’m speaking in code and you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you don’t you are probably a painter). I didn’t learn this stuff in school and I’ve been in school for almost twenty-eight years of my life. What could have possibly prepared my mind for this kind of comprehension? I don’t know but it’s really easy. I move effortlessly from one thing to the next at a rate of 645 bytes per second. (On a side note: 1,680 x 1,050 = 1,764,000. That’s the number of pixels on my screen. This new monitor looks like it has more surface area than my head and more pixels than I have cells. I’m getting paler and it’s getting more saturated, I’m getting dumber and it’s getting smarter, I don’t have to move anymore and it’s getting more efficient. I don’t even need to know anything because it knows everything. That’s not true. I need to know where the On button is, how to type www.google.com and press down on my mouse one time but that’s not complicated. Second graders do that.) I can’t be certain but I think the ability to shape-shift between things and fully integrate myself with my environment physically and digitally so effortlessly has something to do with and shopping. But even shopping sounds antiquated. I’m not sure how shopping got such a strong foothold on our culture, whether it’s a byproduct of something larger or the facilitator of our situation. Either way, it is the perfect metaphor to explain it. Shopping has a way of keeping things moving, it keeps things new. It has given me the permission to replace the old as fast I can swipe a credit card. Shopping’s complete and total accessibility makes everything almost always obsolete. We can shop from home, at school, on the internet, on our cell phones, at the museums and on airplanes. We don’t have to seek out shopping because it seeks us out. It’s as omnipresent as air. I got a text message alarm from some machine somewhere on my Motorola™ Slvr™ notifying me that software update version 1.0.3 allowing MMS is available for download at www.motorola.com or I can download it now through the phone itself but it will cost me. This happens even though the phone I have works just fine. I don’t need MMS (and I wish I could say I didn’t know what that means) but I kind of want it. I don’t have problems calling anyone. But it’s not an issue of efficacy, it’s about newness and novelty. Shopping has prepared and trained me to keep things moving. It’s like Buddhism, it’s about the journey, not the destination. It doesn’t matter what we buy because we are just going to replace it. is about the act of buying. It is about giving the impression of progress. It’s about doing something, anything, even if it’s pointless. If the parenthetical title to is shopping, the parenthetical title to shopping is (junking). But we try to ignore that part. is known for its waste as much as its production. What ever happened to that hunter-gatherer thing? Then again that was a form of shopping too.
Shopping and junk have become an integral part of who I am, who we are, what we do, and how we think. Both are part of our lineage and our story as a culture. When I started making these Piles I did not know how much they relied on a culture that puts so much pressure on itself to produce, acquire and abandon consumable goods and information, but it is clear to me now. (it’s not so much about consumption as much as it is acquisition. Consumption implies digestion and sustenance. Acquisition is about having and not necessarily using.) They are piles of . And when I sit back and think about it, if I can find the time - wait, I don’t need to because I will be on to something new in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 seconds.

New York, May 2007

(since writing this i have purchased and iphone and it makes everything i just wrote sound dated.)