Object Stories

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I Buy / Sell / Trade "stuff". Do you have a super well-loved “something”? An item that is too worn out, or too insignificant to anyone else to have any monetary value, but with too much sentimental value to throw out? Or some scrap of something; some piece of junk that you can't part with it because you never know when it will become worth its weight in silver (or gold!) because it is exactly what you need for some unforeseen project? I am collecting such items as part of an ongoing art project that will involve buying, selling and trading of these items, along with their stories. If you have an item that has a great story behind it I may be interested in adding it to my collection. Items can not have any significant resale value and shall be accompanied by a hand-written story telling the life of the piece and how it gained such personal value. These pieces will be saved from being thrown out, and the memories will be captured in the biography of the item that you write for me.

This is an ongoing project. If you are interested in buying, selling, or trading an item, or would like to share a story that comes to mind when hearing about the project, please contact me at alish@cocc.edu or comment on a post below.

See more participatory art on my website!

Here are the stories thus far.





Thursday, February 23, 2012

Farm-to-table Community Dinner


This was my first time sharing the project.  In fact, I had not planned to begin the project that evening until I was sitting at a table with a family I didn't know, my wife, and a friend of ours.  I realized that this would be a great opportunity to launch the project.  After sharing that I was collecting these well-loved items everyone around the table immediately began talking about items that came to mind for them.  One shared that she has a super-ball collection from her childhood.  She didn't really play with them much, and didn't have any particular criteria for her collection.  She just enjoyed them.  We wondered whether they would have any value to someone on ebay.com.  Another shared that she has some stuffed animals that have been very well-loved, but that she didn't know if there were any that she was ready to part with.  The father of the family across the table from me said that he would give me a car.  At first I thought he was totally joking, or that he was not understanding the concept of the collection I was creating; but then he explained that it was in this car that he drove his first born home from the hospital.  His daughter is now in high school and he gave her the car, but she won't drive it because it is too much of a "heap" and she is too embarrassed to drive it.  It also does not run dependably enough so he can't sell it for anything. As he put it, he "can't give it away".  His wife was excited about the project because she is a professional organizer (she organizes people's homes / lives).  She said that she has some clients who would definitely have some things that could be contributed to the collection.