Week 4: Shelf Space Is Rented

Perec's inventory method turned on a single aisle, and what eye level turns out to cost

15 March 2027

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Perec’s method is exhaustive description before interpretation: list everything, then ask what the list means. Applied to a shelf, it stops being neutral fast — eye-level space is rented at a price, and the price tells you exactly whose attention the store has decided is worth buying.

Outline#

• the infra-ordinary: describing what’s actually there, not what you expect to see
• eye level as a market, not a fact of anatomy
• who a shelf is actually built to catch