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Persil´s box (Talk)
Mnemosyne Lab 🌐
December 14, 2021, 8pm
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Dear Mnemosyne Friends,
We are very much looking forward to seeing and discussing Raphael E. Linsi's panel "Persil's box" in the upcoming SESSION. If we still have time and energy after the discussion we will discuss panel 77 with a glimpse of panel 79. Panel 77 was the starting point to ask Raphael if he would like to present his investigations on detergent in the form of a panel. we will see if there could be a connection here.
Raphael E. Linsi's extensive research revolves around the detergent brand Persil. Until the physician Nicolas Leblanc developed the artificial production of soda (1791), soap was largely a luxury product. Those who could not afford soap had to wash (themselves/clothes) either with hot water only or simply less frequently. It is no coincidence that this process was invented by a physician who was also a chemist; for until the middle of the 19th century, chemistry could not be studied as an independent subject, but was a branch of medical studies or of other industrial/craft apprenticeships. Chemistry was a backbone or connective element of many industries that emerged in the 19th century, if not of industrialization itself. The detergent industry, as a sibling industry of the pharmaceutical industry, was built on what was now declared to be independent chemical research. At that time, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Henkel company was a protagonist in the development of products useful for everyday cleanliness and domestic hygiene. Appropriate advertising slogans and graphics had to be designed for the various sub-brands. Taking cues from prevailing sentiments in society and political agendas was a possible gambit that companies adapted as "marketing" (another young field). And an advertising graphic for the detergent Persil from 1938, which was taken up again by the Henkel company in 2017 for an anniversary edition (image in the attachment), is Raphael E. Linsi's departure to take a closer look at the much-entangled history of the Henkel company and family. Can the material foaming up here shed a different light on the product detergent in its cultural, medical and production-historical meaning?
We are very much looking forward to seeing and discussing Raphael E. Linsi's panel "Persil's box" in the upcoming SESSION. If we still have time and energy after the discussion we will discuss panel 77 with a glimpse of panel 79. Panel 77 was the starting point to ask Raphael if he would like to present his investigations on detergent in the form of a panel. we will see if there could be a connection here.
Raphael E. Linsi's extensive research revolves around the detergent brand Persil. Until the physician Nicolas Leblanc developed the artificial production of soda (1791), soap was largely a luxury product. Those who could not afford soap had to wash (themselves/clothes) either with hot water only or simply less frequently. It is no coincidence that this process was invented by a physician who was also a chemist; for until the middle of the 19th century, chemistry could not be studied as an independent subject, but was a branch of medical studies or of other industrial/craft apprenticeships. Chemistry was a backbone or connective element of many industries that emerged in the 19th century, if not of industrialization itself. The detergent industry, as a sibling industry of the pharmaceutical industry, was built on what was now declared to be independent chemical research. At that time, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Henkel company was a protagonist in the development of products useful for everyday cleanliness and domestic hygiene. Appropriate advertising slogans and graphics had to be designed for the various sub-brands. Taking cues from prevailing sentiments in society and political agendas was a possible gambit that companies adapted as "marketing" (another young field). And an advertising graphic for the detergent Persil from 1938, which was taken up again by the Henkel company in 2017 for an anniversary edition (image in the attachment), is Raphael E. Linsi's departure to take a closer look at the much-entangled history of the Henkel company and family. Can the material foaming up here shed a different light on the product detergent in its cultural, medical and production-historical meaning?
Probably Aby Warburg could have mounted the "Persil lady" with her dynamically (in the wind) moving garments on the plate 77 of the Mnemosyne Atlas. Whether a "Persil-Schein" could be tacked on as a "compurgation" on an extension of plate 79 - in the context of confession, hope and atonement - that would be less evident, but quite possible.
organization and text by Philipp Schwalb
Moons asleep (solo)
Porto
May 28 - July 4, 2021
Based on a true story (group)
Raphael E. Linsi, Tobias Spichtig, Valentina Minning
Curated by Bho for FiancE
Salts, Basel
July 4 - August 8, 2020