In this I think you beg for a definition of "despatialization." I'll grant
you that Home Shopping Network is an even more manipulative and
disempowering than the average retail outlet, partly due to the reduction
of spatial mechanisms as you describe, and partly because the aural
communication is strictly one-way. But retail outlets are hardly kittens!
Every item in a modern retail store is given proper lighting, placement,
and signage in order to maximize the chance of a sale and minimize the
possibilities of critical investigation. Even the entire store can become
a spatial mechanism, the very cabinets, shelves, and display spaces
directing the eye of the viewer and the motion of the traffic. As far as
how I would choose to employ words, these mechanisms strike me not as
"de-spatializations," but rather careful orderings of space, i.e.
restrictions upon free movement in space. The topology of the space
becomes controlled, it is a point network of interactive sites, rather than
a continuously traversible and accessible space. This definition is
perhaps not at odds with what you meant, but I'd prefer to hear your own
elaborations rather than assume anything.
Control over space usually breaks down when the critical consumer picks up
an object and begins investigating it from every possible angle. In the
case of clothing, he/she even tries it on and subsumes the space of the
object. Control over traffic flow is usually not broken, however. One way
to break such control would be to climb over the physical display
structures, moving upon arbitrary lines rather than the grid laid out for
the shopper. Unfortunately, such behavior is usually not deemed acceptable
in any society I know of, owing to people's spatial mappings of property.
Another way to break the control is to refuse to negotiate the space in its
intended narrative order. For example, running and leaping down the
aisles, refusing to take in the information, wilfully ignoring large
display signs, etc.
Cheers,
Brandon J. Van Every <vanevery@blarg.net> DEC Commodity Graphics
http://www.blarg.net/~vanevery Windows NT Alpha OpenGL
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seattle! Join the <<<NORTHWEST CYBERARTISTS>>>. Monthly meetings at
the Speakeasy. Check out http://www.nwlink.com/cyberartists