The Potential of the Object

The potential of the object, material or symbolic, must be reduced to that of commodity use value. By definition, corporate culture strives towards the maximum utilization of all resources to obtain the greatest profit regardless of the mode of exchange. This is regardless of whether the symbols of exchange are durable goods or aesthetic content. All content is potential product, and must be exploited to its fullest extent. We want to not only see the touring Monet exhibition, but we want to take home the print and buy the T-shirt as well, go to the chat room on monet.com, and then wear the shirt to the Rivera exhibition, so that we can buy its bag and screensaver. As all aspects of the object become aestheticized symbols of commodification, it is no surprise that the local branch of the art museum is at the shopping mall. Museums are placing their shops at the entrance, and The Museum Store has become a potent signifier of the hypercapitalistic reconfiguration of aesthetic cultural forms. The cyclical commodification of signs is most prevalent on the Internet, where all information is a potential symbol of exchange, and reifies the homogenous cult of commodity.