MICROSTORY OF ART

MICROSTORY OF ART
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Dedicated to Sustainability and Luxury

(Picture/Animation: Priwo / Jahobr)

(Picture/Animation: Priwo / Jahobr)

(Picture: DS; from the Sustainable Fashion Handbook by Sandy Black, London 2012)

Sustainability and Luxury

(24.4.2023) If an object offers an aesthetic experience to a beholder, the object can be defined as an aesthetic object. According to the German philosopher Lambert Wiesing we can speak of an object of luxury, if a) the making of such object requires an irrational, unreasonable and exaggerated extravagance, and b) a user, buyer or consumer accepts such extravagance, knowing that it is irrational etc., turning the mere act of consumption into an act of defiance. What is to be defied? Ideas of correctness are to be defied. And before the rise of a discourse of sustainability, one would have discussed moral correctness in the first place. This has probably not changed, but correctness, today, can be ecological correctness (we encounter morality in terms of ecological correctness). It is fascinating to see that the luxury industry has not only discovered the discourse of sustainability, no, the luxury industry has adopted the discourse of sustainability, it is flourishing in the realm of luxury goods, and perhaps the inner contradictions of this discourse can best be studied, if we are going to study how the luxury industry is explaining to us, why and how luxury goods contribute to sustainability and to saving the planet. No, we will not talk of economic sustainability here. But this is the whole point (one does avoid to speak of that). Meanwhile: Diamonds, gold, steel and leather – my wrist is proving in many a way (in case that I was an owner of a luxury watch) that I am a morally correct, an ecologically responsible person.

(Picture: Ralf Roletschek)

1) The Sustainability of Artificial Diamonds

I particularly do like the argument of the artificial diamond and the small-scale gold mine: to find a real diamond enormous amounts of rubble have to be moved (but instead we produce the diamond in a laboratory, and despite the effort of energy the ecological footprint will be smaller), and to dispose of gold we don’t have to rely on industrial gold mines. No, we can draw on the small ones, the ecological and socially correct ones (one does not forget the social dimenson of sustainability). But in fact: everything in my luxury watch speaks for it being in accordance with the discourse of sustainability: Steel (it can be recycled steel, perhaps originally my watch partly had been a romantic little car), gold (we only use gold if supply chains are monitored, and if the gold deserves any ecological label), diamonds (from the laboratory rather, this can be a plus, despite a loss of aura), and leather (only ecological farming); transport and distribution are minor issues. And the biggest plus of all: my luxury watch will be passed to the next generation. Which is the ultimate prove for it being in accordance with sustainability, the ecological correctness of today. Is there any problem? If so, we are investing if ecological projects for compensation, or offer a prize for young and responsible entrepreneurs, acting in accordance with the principle of sustainability.

(Picture: Rainer Zenz)

2) Luxury Versus Sustainability?

One might say that the luxury industry has no other choice than to adopt the discourse of sustainability. Or (which would be worse): the discourse is already so worn out, so attractive for anything, that it can be adopted for anything, even if the irrationality, the unreasonable and exaggerated extravagance that goes into the making of a luxury good, is so obvious that it is plain to see for everyone that luxury does not exist due to necessity and appropriateness, but despite standards (whatever they are) of what is necessary and appropriate. Luxury is never the appropriate and necessary solution for anything, only if we are seeking not to act in accordance to certain standards (whatever such are), and if, not to forget, we are seeking a particular aesthetic experience.
One could be cynical and turn the discourse around: speaking of sustainability is luxury, a golden watch with a diamond is not (it is necessary and appropriate to provoke a morally worn out discourse). And the argument that objects might be long-living objects, passed from one generation to the next, is thin too. Long-living, sustainability, durabilité, can be thought without offering a particular aesthetic experience. Brief: the actual brand, the logo, the prove of sustainability is rather a particular hue: the recycling-grey of formerly white plastic, and not the artificial diamond that comes with my yoghurt.
I suspect that the flourishing of the discourse of sustainability in the realm of luxury is due to an internal competition within the luxury industry. One cannot ignore the zeitgeist, one has to adapt to it, to the benefit at least to be seen as morally superior than my competitor. But the question if luxury, as such, is in accordance with sustainability, has to be repressed. And this we do not accept – at least in philosophy.

(Picture: DS; from the Sustainable Fashion Handbook by Sandy Black, London 2012)

3) Sustainability and Fashion

Luxury is a producer of images. This is obvious as to any object of consumption. These objects are delivered, offered, go along with appropriate images enhancing an envisioned attractiveness. But it is most obvious in the realm of fashion. It is obvious that the discourse of sustainability poses a problem for fashion. And perhaps there are so many books on sustainability and fashion, since there is an actual awareness of the problem (and perhaps, in the luxury industry, beyond a certain cynicism, there might be real concern and awareness, too). Since we are studying the discourse of sustainability from the side of its images here, we only want to point to the realm of images that combine ideas of sustainability with the imagery of fashion. The effects of such combining might be judged as being aesthetic objects as well. Such judging we do not want to practice here. But we do add these images to our collection of an iconography of sustainability.

(Picture/Animation: Priwo / Jahobr)

Selected Literature:
Lambert Wiesing [interview with], »Luxus ist eine Trotzreaktion«, in: Philosophie Magazin Juni/Juli 2016, pp. 70-75
Timm Delfs, Glänzende Zukunft [feature on Uhren & Nachhaltigkeit], in: Z – Die Substanz des Stils (April 2023), pp. 42-44

MICROSTORY OF ART
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