Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Casino Capers: Exploring the Aesthetics of Superfluidity

2010; Volume: 30; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

1057-0292

Mary Stokrocki, Bianne Castillo, Michael Delahunt, Laurie Eldridge, Martin Koreck,

Art History and Market Analysis

Bianne Castillo, Michael Delahunt, Laurie Eldridge, Martin KoreckCasinos are fast becoming sites for display of new Native American (NA) Arts. such a context, casinos re-represent themselves and their communities through various visual forms and thus change their meanings. her study of Wisconsin casinos, Stuhr (2004) challenged art educators to consider these visual culture displays as they accommodate new markets. Art in casino phenomenon is worth investigating and how art educators can explore and/or make sense of this phenomenon is important. Casinos are using artworks as spectacles of pleasure.According to a casino gambling survey conducted by Harrah's Entertainment, approximately 40 million Americans played slot machines in 2003 (Rivlin, 2004). People are attracted to glitz and chance of winning money. Such things are phenomenal. highly sensual and impressive, and there lies attraction. The gambling experience dates back at least to casting of lots in Bible. Experience always has an aesthetic component. An aesthetic experience resides not so much in a thing's appearance, as in its life-like substitutes. In an age in which desire is inculcated even in those who have nothing to buy, metropolis [casino] becomes place where superfluity of objects is converted into a value in and of itself (Mbembe, 2004, p. 405). So what aesthetic qualities draw people to casino?What is a Casino?A casino is a private establishment that provides an environment for playing games of chance, wherein successful players win money. These point-scoring games usually involve card games, a combination of matching or adding cards exposed on table cards in their hands. A casino however offers much more nowadays. It offers an environment in which people can converse, eat, drink coffee/alcohol, play, swim, and enjoy entertainment. Many casinos in Las Vegas, for example, also include giftshops, supermarkets, fashion boutiques, art galleries, and nightclubs. The establishment aims at visual, gustatory, aural, and taste senses. all, environment appeals to all of senses. With 1988 passage of Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, intervening decades have seen rapid proliferation of regulated casino gambling and state-run lotteries in United States. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act mandated that state governments enter into good-faith negotiations Indian tribes seeking to operate casinos and high-stakes bingo games. Worried about municipal revenues, states allowed for expansion of gambling in non- Indian jurisdictions including so-called interstate games (like Powerball), multimillion-dollar jackpots (Rizzo, 2004). Such policies thrive on aesthetics of superfluidity that which is excessive.Aesthetics of SuperfluidityAesthetics is a field that incorporates many art theories: expressive, representational, formalistic, and functional, to name a few. many ways, aesthetics deals sensory and emotional experience of making special (Dissanayake, 1988). The idea of superfluity is borrowed from Mbembe (2004), who discusses aesthetics in analyzing/interpreting new architecture in city of Johannesburg, South Africa. He associates superfluity with luxury, rarity, and vanity, futility and caprice, conspicuous spectacle, and even phantasm (p. 378). He discusses exploitation of a mass of human material in city. South Africa, gold was superfluous raw material and symbol of wealth. The rush for gold, an amazing paradox, was not as significant initially as pursuit of coal, iron, or rubber (Arendt, 1966). Today, in other casino cultures, rush is for the rush itself.the blast of thrills and escapism that atmosphere provides.Phenomenological GambitThis paper is a phenomenological inquiry, study of an experience and its layered meanings (Van Manen, 1984). It is an attempt to somehow capture a phenomenon of life in a linguistic description that is both holistic and analytical, evocative and precise, unique and universal, powerful and sensitive (Van Manen, 1990, p. …