fetishise
1. Does "fetishise" in this context mean "to give sexual meaning" or "to give excessive importance"?

2. Does "objects that are ordinarily taken for granted" mean "usual and everyday objects"?

Context:
Koons’s series The New (1980–1986) consisted of brand-new vacuum cleaners in neon-lit Plexiglas showcases. On the one hand, these works seem to fetishise consumer objects that are ordinarily taken for granted and to call attention to the way that ‘consumerism appears to become ever more cultural, less the realm of selling things but of selling or merely displaying images, sounds and words.’46 On the other hand, their isolation in the gallery, as Koons has claimed, recodifies the objects and also allows us to ask why and how consumer objects are glorified.

Question

fetishise
1. Does "fetishise" in this context mean "to give sexual meaning" or "to give excessive importance"?

2. Does "objects that are ordinarily taken for granted" mean "usual and everyday objects"?

Context:
Koons’s series The New (1980–1986) consisted of brand-new vacuum cleaners in neon-lit Plexiglas showcases. On the one hand, these works seem to fetishise consumer objects that are ordinarily taken for granted and to call attention to the way that ‘consumerism appears to become ever more cultural, less the realm of selling things but of selling or merely displaying images, sounds and words.’46 On the other hand, their isolation in the gallery, as Koons has claimed, recodifies the objects and also allows us to ask why and how consumer objects are glorified.

Answer

Fetishise (Fetishize in American English) is likely used to sexualise an object which is not usually consider sexual. However in some cases, fetishisation can be used to display some obsession, however this is most often used as academic jargon such as in GDP fetishisation.

As for the second point, ordinary and mundane objects just refer to objects which you see in your day to day life but don't pay attention to. One example of this could be a chair or a cup. They are objects which are viewed as being simple and boring and not something which people spend their time daydreaming about.

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