At last friday’s PSFK Conference I had the pleasure to see Rob Walker present his ingenious The Significant Objects Project: He purchased some random, insignifant objects (mugs, ashtrays, kitschy decorative pieces etc), to then invite a talented, creative writer to invent a story around it. Invested with new significance by this fiction, the object should — according to Rob’s hypothesis — acquire not merely subjective but objective value. How to test our theory? Via eBay! And boy, he was right, see the Experiment’s Results here.
Love the creativity behind this. It’s interesting to see how much each object could sell for.
Is this a lesson in art or psychology, though? :)
Apr 12th, 2010 / 10:31 am
I loved it too! @tanner he said it was both!
Apr 12th, 2010 / 10:34 pm
Really great project this.
A book that explores the subject of objects really well is Sherry Turkle’s ‘Evocative Objects: Things we think with’. Her MIT credentials ensures the book has gravitas but is also really accessible in revealing the emotional power of everyday objects.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Evocative-Objects-Things-We-Think/dp/0262201682
Apr 13th, 2010 / 11:08 am