Dirty Pretty Trash
Dirty Pretty Trash: Confronting Perceptions through the Aesthetics of the Abject
by Natasha Seegert
ABSTRACT: Both abjection and the return of the abject are crucial feedback. We send away what we
don’t want, but the forced confrontation of the abject can have a transformative power
when we actually perceive what is a part of us and not apart from us. Visual feedback
serves as a potential “event” that can let us experience how our behaviors are
problematic; in turn, this knowledge can result in potential for change. When the abject
appears in the form of art, it becomes enframed for our scopic pleasure and itself
becomes an object to observe and reflect upon: abject as object. When it comes to our
encounters with the material world of nature and art, both are more than the
picturesque or the sublime, but instead embody the cultural connections that we
sometimes wish we could ignore and keep safely out of sight or at a distance. This is why
confrontations with the aestheticized abject can serve as potential sites for encounter
and possibly of transformation. Artist Mark Dion conceives of art as part of this
transformation, asserting that one way to encourage care for the more-than-human
world is through an “aesthetic sensibility.” It is this sensibility that Dion employs in his
work to address environmental concerns. Rather than ruminate on the sublime or
pastoral, Dion explores the frequently invisible urban ecologies that the vast majority of
people encounter but frequently keep at a distance. Dion’s work explores what happens
to trash and the othered animals that inhabit such trashscapes. By framing the
aestheticized abject in the gallery, we grant our bodies the opportunity to perceive and
not to simply to look away.
CITATION: Seegert, Natasha (2014) "Dirty Pretty Trash: Confronting Perceptions through the
Aesthetics of the Abject," The Journal of Ecocriticism, 6(1).
References
Adorno, Theodor. The Culture Industry. New York: Routledge, 1991. Print.
Art:21. “Mark Dion | Art21 | PBS.” Science and Aesthetics. Mark Dion: Interview and Videos. N. p., 2007. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.
Badiou, Alain. Ethics: An Understanding on the Ethics of Evil. 2002: New York, Verso. Print.
CLUI. “The Center for Land Use Interpretation.” Aragonite Hazardous Waste Incinerator. N. p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.
---. “The Center for Land Use Interpretation.” Land Use Database. N. p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.
---. “The Center for Land Use Interpretation.” A Trip to the Dump. N. p., Spring 2009. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.
Crary, Jonathan. Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the 19th Century. Boston: MIT Press, 1992. Print.
Derrida, Jacques. Echographies of Television. Cambridge: Polity, 2002. Print.
---. Limited Inc. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1988. Print.
Dion, Mark, and Anne Pasternak. “Interview with Mierle Laderman Ukeles: Artist for the New York Sanitation Department.” Concrete Jungle: A Pop Media Investigation of Death and Survival in Urban Ecosystems. Ed. Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman. New York: Juno Books, 1996. 166–171. Print.
Dion, Mark, and Alexis Rockman, eds. Concrete Jungle: A Pop Media Investigation of Death And Survival in Urban Ecosystems. New York: Juno Books, 1996. Print.
Fiennes, Sophie. The Pervert’s Guide To Cinema. P Guide Ltd. Film.
Foster, Hal. “The Art of the Missing Part.” Robert Gober. Ed. Paul Schimmel. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, 1997. Print.
Horkheimer, Max, and Theodor Adorno. Dialectic of Enlightenment. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002. Print.
Kastner, Jeffrey. “What Remains.” Public Art Review 20.2 (2009): 40. Print.
Krauss, Rosalind. “Sculpture in the Expanded Field.” October 8. Spring (1979): 30–44. Print.
Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982. Print.
Kwon, Miwon. “One Place After Another: Notes on Site Specificity.” October 80. Spring (1997): 85–110. Print.
Levinas, E. Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer, 1991. Print.
McLuhan, Marshall. “Education in the Electronic Age.” Interchange 1.4 (1970): 1–12. Print.
---. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press. Print.
Mitchell, W.J.T. What Do Pictures Want? Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. Print.
Paglen, Trevor. Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World. New York: Dutton, 2009. Print.
Patell, Shireen R.K. “The Language of Pests.” Concrete Jungle: A Pop Media Investigation of Death and Survival in Urban Ecosystems. Ed. Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman. New York: Juno Books, 1996. 62–64. Print.
Serres, Michel. Malfeasance: Appropriation through Pollution? Trans. Anne-Marie Feenberg-Dibon. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011. Print.
Thompson, Nato. “In Two Directions: Geography as Art, Art as Geography.” Experimental Geography: Radical Approaches to Landscape, Cartography, and Urbanism. Ed. Nato Thompson. New York: Random House, 2009. Print.
Wallis, Brian. “Survey.” Land and Environmental Art. Ed. Jeffrey Kastner and Brian Wallis. London: Phaidon Press,1998. Print.
Zimmerman, Drake. “The Enemy Within.” Concrete Jungle: A Pop Media Investigation of Death and Survival in Urban Ecosystems. Ed. Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman. New York: Juno Books, 1996. 146–151. Print.
by Natasha Seegert
ABSTRACT: Both abjection and the return of the abject are crucial feedback. We send away what we
don’t want, but the forced confrontation of the abject can have a transformative power
when we actually perceive what is a part of us and not apart from us. Visual feedback
serves as a potential “event” that can let us experience how our behaviors are
problematic; in turn, this knowledge can result in potential for change. When the abject
appears in the form of art, it becomes enframed for our scopic pleasure and itself
becomes an object to observe and reflect upon: abject as object. When it comes to our
encounters with the material world of nature and art, both are more than the
picturesque or the sublime, but instead embody the cultural connections that we
sometimes wish we could ignore and keep safely out of sight or at a distance. This is why
confrontations with the aestheticized abject can serve as potential sites for encounter
and possibly of transformation. Artist Mark Dion conceives of art as part of this
transformation, asserting that one way to encourage care for the more-than-human
world is through an “aesthetic sensibility.” It is this sensibility that Dion employs in his
work to address environmental concerns. Rather than ruminate on the sublime or
pastoral, Dion explores the frequently invisible urban ecologies that the vast majority of
people encounter but frequently keep at a distance. Dion’s work explores what happens
to trash and the othered animals that inhabit such trashscapes. By framing the
aestheticized abject in the gallery, we grant our bodies the opportunity to perceive and
not to simply to look away.
CITATION: Seegert, Natasha (2014) "Dirty Pretty Trash: Confronting Perceptions through the
Aesthetics of the Abject," The Journal of Ecocriticism, 6(1).
References
Adorno, Theodor. The Culture Industry. New York: Routledge, 1991. Print.
Art:21. “Mark Dion | Art21 | PBS.” Science and Aesthetics. Mark Dion: Interview and Videos. N. p., 2007. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.
Badiou, Alain. Ethics: An Understanding on the Ethics of Evil. 2002: New York, Verso. Print.
CLUI. “The Center for Land Use Interpretation.” Aragonite Hazardous Waste Incinerator. N. p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.
---. “The Center for Land Use Interpretation.” Land Use Database. N. p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.
---. “The Center for Land Use Interpretation.” A Trip to the Dump. N. p., Spring 2009. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.
Crary, Jonathan. Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the 19th Century. Boston: MIT Press, 1992. Print.
Derrida, Jacques. Echographies of Television. Cambridge: Polity, 2002. Print.
---. Limited Inc. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1988. Print.
Dion, Mark, and Anne Pasternak. “Interview with Mierle Laderman Ukeles: Artist for the New York Sanitation Department.” Concrete Jungle: A Pop Media Investigation of Death and Survival in Urban Ecosystems. Ed. Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman. New York: Juno Books, 1996. 166–171. Print.
Dion, Mark, and Alexis Rockman, eds. Concrete Jungle: A Pop Media Investigation of Death And Survival in Urban Ecosystems. New York: Juno Books, 1996. Print.
Fiennes, Sophie. The Pervert’s Guide To Cinema. P Guide Ltd. Film.
Foster, Hal. “The Art of the Missing Part.” Robert Gober. Ed. Paul Schimmel. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, 1997. Print.
Horkheimer, Max, and Theodor Adorno. Dialectic of Enlightenment. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002. Print.
Kastner, Jeffrey. “What Remains.” Public Art Review 20.2 (2009): 40. Print.
Krauss, Rosalind. “Sculpture in the Expanded Field.” October 8. Spring (1979): 30–44. Print.
Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982. Print.
Kwon, Miwon. “One Place After Another: Notes on Site Specificity.” October 80. Spring (1997): 85–110. Print.
Levinas, E. Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer, 1991. Print.
McLuhan, Marshall. “Education in the Electronic Age.” Interchange 1.4 (1970): 1–12. Print.
---. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press. Print.
Mitchell, W.J.T. What Do Pictures Want? Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. Print.
Paglen, Trevor. Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World. New York: Dutton, 2009. Print.
Patell, Shireen R.K. “The Language of Pests.” Concrete Jungle: A Pop Media Investigation of Death and Survival in Urban Ecosystems. Ed. Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman. New York: Juno Books, 1996. 62–64. Print.
Serres, Michel. Malfeasance: Appropriation through Pollution? Trans. Anne-Marie Feenberg-Dibon. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011. Print.
Thompson, Nato. “In Two Directions: Geography as Art, Art as Geography.” Experimental Geography: Radical Approaches to Landscape, Cartography, and Urbanism. Ed. Nato Thompson. New York: Random House, 2009. Print.
Wallis, Brian. “Survey.” Land and Environmental Art. Ed. Jeffrey Kastner and Brian Wallis. London: Phaidon Press,1998. Print.
Zimmerman, Drake. “The Enemy Within.” Concrete Jungle: A Pop Media Investigation of Death and Survival in Urban Ecosystems. Ed. Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman. New York: Juno Books, 1996. 146–151. Print.
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