Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’, Jean-Claude Planchet/Pompidou Center

Phil asks “The host is supposed to be creating something of lasting value, a monument of some sort? Is that a burden? Seems that would produce self-consciousness and anxiety… Here we are socializing the presence of an unsolicited, kitschy knickknack. How serious can it be?”

There are several good questions and issues wrapped up together in this comment and so it invites a couple of distinct responses. (Michael has already offered some answers of his own in a previous post.)

As far as the Burns Supper Problem goes, we think the best solution is to make the system “opt-in”. I have come to believe that a Handmeon should probably never be handed on “unsolicited”, lest the recipient find the gift more of a burden than a treat. Essentially this would mean that you could only hand an object on to another registered member who has ‘coveted’ the object. This is an issue that we plan to address directly in the very near future. In the meantime, it might not be a bad idea to test the waters before offering a friend a Handmeon. For instance, you might send them a link to the object (there’s a handy “share this page with your friends” link in the sidebar of every sojourn) and invite them to register and covet the object, so you will know they are interested.

The question of “lasting value” is fascinating. I do think that lots of Americans feel a certain level of anxiety and self-conscious about certain categories of social performance, especially anything that might seem affected or elitist. It probably depends on what you are used to. There are people who like book groups, Karaoke, 10K foot races, amateur theatricals, or spelling bees. Some people form quartets and give free concerts at the local hospital, just for the fun of it. Other people put their photos up on Flickr, post their own YouTube videos, or even write blogs, all of which are little attempts do do something performative that is a little bit more special (dare I say worthwhile?) than watching television. I actually ended up enjoying the Burns Supper that I went to, though I’ll admit that I was a bit grouchy on the way there in the car. How serious is it? It’s all just a form of play. Some games are serious, some are fun, some are hard, some are funny, some are all those things at once. At Handmeon, everyone is the host of their own sojourns and is free to try to set whatever tone they feel is appropriate within the bounds of civility set out in the user agreement. Though, of course, they will have to talk their guests into it. We aim to provide tools to facilitate creativity and neighborliness. Seriousness is optional. “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend.”

How serious can a kitschy knickknack be? In December 2004, Duchamp’s Fountain was voted the most influential artwork of the 20th century by 500 selected British artworld professionals. Jerry Saltz wrote in The Village Voice in 2006: “Fountain brings us into contact with an original that is still an original but that also exists in an altered philosophical and metaphysical state. It is a manifestation of the Kantian sublime: A work of art that transcends a form but that is also intelligible, an object that strikes down an idea while allowing it to spring up stronger.”