PedalCulture is a themed exploration of guitar effects pedals as cultural artifacts derived
from a 2017 design exhibition at San Francisco State University curated by the writer. This
colorful and artfully designed volume contains curatorial text describing eight different
object displays along with photographs of each of the sixty-three individual pedals richly
illustrated in approximately one hundred original photographs. The anthropological quest into
understanding how effects stompboxes allow for quasi-supernatural power transference from on
high to working guitarists is just one of the many themes explored in this volume. Other
exhibits explore symbolic associations in the branding of sonic effects with notable cultural
touchstones from popular arts and culture: As material manifestations of noir literature
retro-futuristic cinema and Japanese anime as explicit graphic metaphors for female pudenda
in explicit reference to gruesome tabloid tales of murder and mayhem in alluring ads for
small-batch handmade artisanal creations and in all too obvious associations to guacamole and
chips. This is PedalCulture?where we also find a heartfelt dialog among church musicians for
whom effects pedals bring heaven to earth yet risk interjecting the world of crass materialism
into sanctified settings. Designers and musicians will find the catalog of value for its
topical content and arts educators will appreciate an exemplary case study of students
collaborating with artists and curators from the community at large. Unlike other books about
the expansive (and expensive) world of guitar gear the curatorial tone of PedalCulture employs
an irreverent sensibility expressed in a whimsical and ironic attitude toward its subject. The
PedalCulture catalog is intended as a hip personally expressive design project fusing form
content and aesthetics into a volume oozing both art style and curatorial substance.
