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Such Stuff

Matthew Sweet explores the philosophical and anthropological background to our relationship with things with academics Bill Brown and Daniel Miller.

This is the story of how the things we accumulate around us say more than we might imagine about who we are.

"The fate of the object," said the French thinker Jean Baudrillard, "has been claimed by no-one." Unless, of course, the object in question is the Mona Lisa or the Alfred Jewel. In these programmes, Matthew Sweet will be looking at the other stuff. The cups. The spoons. The knick-knacks. The things we might keep, even if we don't quite have the room for them.

Through the prism of what people have in their homes, Objects of Desire explores the work of sociologists and anthropologists like Pierre Bourdieu and Mary Douglas, and philosopher Gaston Bachelard, in order to understand the curious mixture of display, memory, emotion and chance that informs the objects we surround ourselves with.

Episode One: Such Stuff. In which Matthew Sweet talks to Sioned (who has lots of stuff) and to Jordan (who has much less) and explores the philosophical and anthropological background to our relationship with things with academics Bill Brown and Daniel Miller.

Available now

12 minutes

Last on

Mon 10 Oct 2016 12:04

Sioned holds up a pair of her shoes

Sioned holds up a pair of her shoes

Her house is full of eye-catching and unusual ornaments

Her house is full of eye-catching and unusual ornaments

Broadcast

  • Mon 10 Oct 2016 12:04

14 Ways You Know You’ve Got Too Much Stuff

Here's how you can tell if you’re heading into the kingdom of clutter.