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Chapter!7:!The!Prosumer!Complex!I!
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7.1!The!Exhibitionary!Complex! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
7.2!The!Complex!of!Prosumerism! ! ! ! ! !
7.3!The!Prosumer!Complex! ! ! ! ! !! ! !
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In!this!chapter,!I!regard!how!aspects!of!Tony!Bennett’s!seminal!essay!on!‘The!
Exhibitionary!Complex’!resonate!with!the!productive!mechanisms!of!both!the!museum!
as!an!institution!and!the!new!institution!of!prosumerism.!Both!combine!the!subjective!
appeal!of!imagery,!a!psychological!complex,!with!productive!display!platforms,!an!
architectural!complex,!to!create!productive!viewers.!Both!prosumerism!(as!Thumin’s!
‘new!institution’)!and!the!museum!(as!the!established!exhibitionYmaking!institution)!
employ!common!contemporary!subjectivities,!through!the!affective!labour!of!looking,!
into!forms!of!contemporary!production.!In!the!concluding!part!of!this!chapter,!I!will!
look!at!how!the!selected!artists’!works!operate!as!exemplary!exhibitionYmodels!and!
new!forms!of!affective!critique.!!
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7.1!The!Exhibitionary!Complex!
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In!1988!Australian!sociologist!Tony!Bennett!wrote!his!essay,!‘The!Exhibitionary!
Complex’.!It!was!provoked!by!American!critic!Douglas!Crimp’s!essay,!‘On!the!
Museum’s!Ruins’!(1985),!which!reviewed!and!revised!Foucault’s!writing!on!the!asylum,!
the!clinic!and!the!prison!as!institutionalised!articulations!of!power!and!knowledge!
relations.!It!reasserts!Crimp’s!concern!for!how!the!standard!North!American!museum!
little!represents!Western!society’s!diversity,!particularly!with!respect!to!gender!
politics.!Bennett!takes!up!Crimp’s!reference!and!expands!on!Foucault’s!theory!of!how!
‘discursive!formations’!reinforce!societal!hierarchies,!or!‘archaeologies!of!knowledge’!
by!introducing!various!classifications!and!integrations!of!objects!and!subjects!within!
exhibition!displays.!He!regards!how!(relatively)!new!academic!disciplines!such!as!
biology,!geography!and!anthropology!are!made!manifest!through!the!displays!of!their!
evidence!in!museums:!one!impact!of!this!being!the!reinforcement!of!imperial!power!
and!the!distancing!of!the!white,!bourgeoisie!from!the!‘other’,!other!races,!ethnicities!
and!nationalities.!Bennett’s!purpose!for!his!elaboration!of!how!museum!architecture!
works!upon!us!is!to!force!a!reYevaluation!of!the!politics!and!strategies!behind!museum!
practice.!But!unlike!Crimp,!who!claims!the!fundamental!similarities!between!the!
disciplinary!institutions!of!the!prison!with!those!of!‘the!museum’,!Bennett!claims!their!
modus!operandi!is!very!different.!The!distinction!Bennett!makes!upturns!Foucault’s!
theory!of!the!‘carceral!archipelago’,!embedded!within!postYnineteenth!century!
disciplinary!institutions,!and!replaces!it!with!what!Bennett!calls!the!‘exhibitionary!
complex’,!evident!in!the!nineteenth!and!twentieth!century!museum.!He!condemns!
Crimp’s!suggestion!that!the!museum!be!interpreted!as!a!site!of!incarceration.!He!
writes,!‘museums!may!have!enclosed!objects!within!their!walls,!but!the!nineteenth!
century!saw!their!doors!open!to!the!general!public!–!witnesses!whose!presence!was!
just!as!essential!to!a!display!of!power!as!had!been!that!of!the!people!before!the!
spectacle!of!punishment!in!the!eighteenth!century.’341!!
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Thomas!Prasch!summarises!Bennett’s!perspective,!whose!‘argument!works!to!finesse!
the!tension!between!a!Foucauldian!perspective!on!power/!knowledge!and!a!Gramscian!
understanding!of!hegemonic!relations!in!civil!society’.342!Bennett’s!writing!positions!
museums!as!supportive!of!an!emergent!public!sphere,!as!resources!which!
governments!might!instrumentalise!in!controlling!its!population.!Bennett’s!pivotal!
historical!moment!is!when!the!judicial!punishment!of!man!stops!being!a!visible!event!
on!the!stocks!or!gallows,!and!is!‘withdrawn!from!the!public!gaze!as!punishment!
increasingly!took!the!form!of!incarceration’.!No!longer!inscribed!within!a!public!
dramaturgy!of!power,!the!body!of!the!condemned!comes!to!be!caught!up!within!the!
inward!looking!power!relations…’343!He!highlights,!‘the!transfer!of!objects!and!bodies!
from!the!enclosed!and!private!domains!in!which!they!had!previously!been!displayed!
(but!to!a!restricted!public)!into!progressively!more!open!and!public!arenas!where,!
through!the!representations!to!which!they!were!subjected,!they!formed!vehicles!for!
inscribing!and!broadcasting!the!messages!of!power!(but!of!a!different!type)!
throughout!society.’344!Bennett!challenges!Foucault’s!generalisation!that!‘the!
penitentiary!merely!perfected!the!individualising!and!normalising!technologies!
associated!with!a!veritable!swarming!of!the!forms!of!surveillance!and!disciplinary!
mechanisms’!bestowing!society!with!a!new!political!economy!of!power.!Instead,!it!was!
a!much!more!subtle!refinement,!‘the!intrication![of!surveillance!and!disciplinary!
technologies]!with!new!forms!of!spectacle!produced!a!more!complex!and!nuanced!set!
of!relations!through!which!power!was!exercised!and!related!to!–!and,!in!part,!through!
and!by!–!the!populace!than!the!Foucaultian!account!allows.’345!The!exhibitionary!
complex’s!intention!of!regulating!a!populace!was!similar!to!the!carceral!archipelago,!
Bennett!writes,!but!its!mechanisms!were!different,!approaching!it!as,!‘a!question!of!
winning!hearts!and!minds!as!well!as!the!disciplining!and!training!of!bodies.’!
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[Its!constituent!institutions]!sought,!through!the!provision!of!object!lessons!in!
power!–!the!power!to!command!and!arrange!things!and!bodies!for!public!display!
–!to!allow!the!people,!and!en!masse!rather!than!individually,!to!know!rather!than!
to!be!known,!to!become!the!subjects!rather!than!the!objects!of!knowledge.!Yet,!
ideally,!they!sought!also!to!allow!the!people!to!know!and!thence!regulate!
themselves;!to!become,!in!seeing!themselves!from!the!side!of!power,!both!the!
subjects!and!objects!of!knowledge,!knowing!power!and!what!power!knows,!and!
knowing!themselves!as!(ideally)!known!by!power,!interiorising!its!gaze!as!a!
principle!of!selfYsurveillance!and,!hence,!self–regulation.346!
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This!is!the!nuanced!power!dynamic!that!Bennett!regards,!which!creates!this!selfY regulating!public.!Asserting!themselves!as!viewers,!the!public!also!establishes!
themselves!as!objects!to!be!viewed.!And!with!that!shift,!the!museum!creates!its!own!
framework!for!pacification.!Visitors!interiorise!power’s!gaze,!they!automate!that!
surveillanceYsystem,!gazing!upon!themselves.!This!was!achieved!through!the!
museum’s!display!platforms,!or!‘technologies!of!vision!embodied!in!the!architectural!
forms!of!the!exhibitionary!complex.’347!Nineteenth!century!exhibition!architecture!
becomes!the!focus!of!Bennett’s!research!and!the!means!by!which!he!articulates!this!
theory.!More!specifically,!he!attends!to!the!development!of!permanent!displays!in!
museums!and!galleries!and!later,!temporary!displays!in!universal!exhibitions.!He!
focuses!on!displays!that!allow!viewers!space!to!see!the!objects!or!images!of!the!
museums’!collections,!but!that!are!also!open!enough!for!the!viewers!to!see!themselves!
within!those!objects!and!among!a!crowd!of!other!visitors,!in!order!to!feel!that!they!are!
very!much!part!of!the!institution!as!its!personal!constituency.!Bennett!looks!at!the!
specific!buildings!of!the!time!and!references!various!architectural!and!social!historians’!
accounts.348!He!quotes!Graham!Davison’s!attention!to!the!Crystal!Palace,!as!an!
‘emblem!of!an!architectural!series!which!could!be!ranged!against!that!of!the!asylum,!
school!and!prison!in!its!continuing!concern!with!the!display!of!objects!to!a!great!
multitude,’!which,!according!to!Davison,!reverses!the!panoptical!principle!by!fixing!the!
eyes!of!the!multitude!upon!an!assemblage!of!glamorous!commodities.!The!Panopticon!
was!designed!so!that!everyone!could!be!seen;!the!Crystal!Palace!was!designed!so!that!
everyone!could!see.’349!!
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Bennett!notes!the!increasing!involvement!and!ambition!of!the!state!in!the!provision!of!
public!spectacles!from!the!midYnineteenth!century!onwards,!rendering!the!whole!city!
visible!(through!public!tours!of!catacombs,!sewers,!tunnels!and!slaughterhouses)!in!
order!to!confer!their!citizenry!with!an!imaginary!control!over!the!city.!To!see!it,!in!this!
way,!was!to!have!purchase!on!it.!This!tendency!extended!out!towards!museums!and!
galleries,!so!that!exhibitions!were!to!play!a!pivotal!role!in!the!formation!of!the!modern!
state,!fundamental!to!its!conception!as!a!set!of!educative!and!civilising!agencies.!The!
exhibitionary!complex!provided!a!context!for!the!permanent!display!of!knowledge!and!
power!through!the!permanence!of!these!institutions.350!What!Bennett!emphasises!
throughout,!is!the!nationYstate!as!the!instigator!of!the!exhibitionary!complex,!and!the!
one!best!served!by!the!effects!it!generated!in!a!population!that!believes!itself!to!have!a!
greater!degree!of!ownership!or!agency!over!their!constituency!than!perhaps!they!
actually!did.!‘This!power!thus!subjugated!by!flattery,!placing!itself!on!the!side!of!the!
people!by!affording!them!a!place!within!its!workings:!a!power!which!placed!the!people!
behind!it,!inveigled!into!complicity!with!it!rather!than!cowed!into!submission!before!
it.’351!
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Although!he!provides!no!one!clear!example!within!any!particular!museum!display,!the!
exhibitionary!complex!was!to!work!upon!viewers’!bodies!just!as!it!worked!upon!their!
mind.!It!borrows!from!Foucault’s!observations!of!the!panopticon!as!a!piece!of!
architecture,!‘to!permit!an!internal,!articulated!and!detailed!control!–!to!render!visible!
those!who!are!inside!it;!an!architecture!that!would!operate!to!transform!individuals:!to!
act!on!those!it!shelters,!to!provide!a!hold!on!their!conduct,!to!carry!the!effects!of!