Category: Health & Beauty

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The First Ever Pacemaker To Speak For Itself

followthethings.com
Health & Beauty

2014
UNBRANDED
HEART PACEMAKER
MINED IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
USED IN THE UK
COMMODITY
CULTURE JAM
POP THE BUBBLE
CROSS CULTURES
START WITH A PARADOX
TAKE IT TO PIECES
REDESIGN THE COMMODITY
EMBODY EXPLOITATION
JOIN THE DOTS
MAKE IT META
MAKE MUSIC
JUXTAPOSE EXTREMES
INCLUDE EMOTION
ENCOURAGE EMPATHY
FIND LOST RELATIONS
LET THE TEARS FLOW
ENCOURAGE THANKFULNESS

“The First Ever Pacemaker To Speak For Itself“
Undergraduate coursework made and recorded by Jennifer Hart
Images of the pacemaker and packaging submitted is in the slideshow above, the song is embedded below.

The studentsā€™ first task in the ā€˜Geographies of Material Cultureā€™ module at the University of Exeter is to make a personal connection between their lives and the lives of others elsewhere in the world who made the things they buy. These are the people who help you to be you, followthethings.com CEO Ian tells them. So choose a commodity that matters to you, thatā€™s an important part of your identity, that you couldnā€™t do without. Think about its component parts, its materials, and what properties they give to that commodity and your experience of ā€˜consumingā€™ it. Student Jennifer Hart feels guilty about the conflict minerals in her mobile phone. Then she finds that the heart pacemaker her mum is having fitted also contains those minerals. It’s a lifesaving operation. How can she reconcile her mum’s suffering and that of these minerals’ miners? How best can she express her feelings about this technological object? By making a pacemaker that knows what she knows, feels what she feels, and can sing about it. A pacemaker that can express a huge thank you.

Page reference: Jennifer Hart, J. (2014) The First Ever Pacemaker To Speak For Itself. followthethings.com/pacemaker.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)

Estimated listening & reading time: 10 minutes.

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Bright Smiles, Dirty Secrets

followthethings.com
Health & Beauty

2020
COLGATE
TOOTHPASTE
FARMED IN INDONESIA
USED IN THE UK
FOLLOW IT YOURSELF
SHOW CAPITALIST EVILS
TAKE IT TO PIECES
START WITH A PARADOX
TARGET THE RIGHT BRAND
PLAY WITH BRANDING
EMBODY EXPLOITATION
INCLUDE SUFFERING KIDS

“Bright Smiles, Dirty Secrets“
Undergraduate coursework designed & written by Talisker Alcobia Cornford.
Originally published on the followthethings.com blog here.

Talisker is taking ‘the’Geographies of Material Culture’, the Exeter University module behind our website. At the start of the module, CEO Ian asks everyone to choose an everyday commodity, zero in on one or more of its ingredients, search online for human and other stories of its making, and then experiment with forms of cultural activism to make these relations public. Itā€™s often more interesting to choose something you have absolutely no idea about – he says – no preconceptions about, like something whose ingredients are chemicals, with names you donā€™t recognise, listed on the packaging in tiny writing thatā€™s hard to read, especially when we use them bleary-eyed, first thing in the morning. Toothpaste is an excellent example. Whose lives are in these kinds of commodities? Talisker culture jams some Colgate ads to add some missing supply chain information to them. But why isnā€™t her response to simply shop for a different brand? Whyā€™s she making these spoof ads? Who does she want to see them? Where would she like them to be displayed?

Page reference: Talisker Alcobia Cornford (2020) Bright Smiles, Dirty Secrets. followthethings.com/bright-smiles-dirty-secrets.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes.

Continue reading Bright Smiles, Dirty Secrets