TIA 2005: Art from Ephemera (Mail Art and the Internet)
Text and Image Arts
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Fall 2007 - Spring 2009

Friday, February 1, 2008

The Lost Object Project


On Monday I presented to the class about The Lost Object Project.  The project invites anyone who is interested to submit a memorial to an object he or she has lost.  Memorials can be submitted electronically or via snail mail.  The project is framed by the story of a jetisioned briefcase for which the project's found now longs.  

As I read through the posts, I found that the posts that included a drawing or a scan of a handwritten description were more compelling to me than those that were just computer generated text.  Also, I noticed that the posts were divided into lost objects that are missed simply because of attributes of the object itself (for instance an article of clothing that fits particularly well) and objects that are valuable because of external associations (like the useless briefcase that is missed because it was a gift from the founder's late grandfather). 

I chose to submit my story on a handwritten post card with a small drawing of my lost neckless (pictured above). Participating in the project, I was aware that although I have a feeling I have lost a fair number of objects in my 24 years I could not think of very many of them.  Also, I have to question the validity of my contribution because I have since replaced that lost neckless

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