The auto salvage: A space of second chances

Abstract

Using the auto salvage yard as its base of operations, this explorative essay-consisting of text and images-attempts to theorize a concept of salvaging. Generally, the authors ask what "salvaging" means within contemporary culture. What do the auto salvage yard and the act of salvaging teach us about the relation between subjects and objects? How can we "read" the signs that appear in the salvage yard? Overall, increasing the visibility of the salvage yard and the practices of salvage transmits the possibility of rethinking the position of the human subject in an increasingly automated environment. Instead of a future where human affect is ejected from rationalized systems, focusing attention of the concept of salvage offers a second chance to revitalize the human subject, rescuing the present from an oppressed past. © 2008 Sage Publications.