Things/Stuff/objects
Digital print on paper sculptures and online archive
2021, 2023-2024
2021, 2023-2024
Things/Stuff/Objects is a documentation of transparent plastic boxes filled with the things we decide to keep, the stuff that are not precious enough to display yet not worthless enough to throw away, and the objects that we believe might be useful in the near or far future.
This project started with my personal habit of keeping things in transparent plastic boxes — transforming my belongings that have current or future value to me into uniformed cuboids that stacks neatly on my shelves. These transparent boxes are sold and used in many countries, making this a habit not just mine but something we universally share.
This project first began as an installation in 2021 at Jalan Besar Salon where I documented and recreated my own boxes. The most recent iteration at Hock Siong & Co., a second hand furniture shop, expands to include the collection of others who also keep things that they think are precious or might be useful in the future. It also sparked the creation of an online collection (click here to go to the library of boxes) that opportunes anyone anywhere to own a stranger's boxes.
The work encourages our curious desire to snoop through people’s things and reorganise boxes, as though they are toy building blocks, to our own personal logic. Yet, it also builds our understanding of how others are precious about objects as well as an object’s ability to act as a snapshot of a certain aspect and personality of a person in a point of time.
This project first began as an installation in 2021 at Jalan Besar Salon where I documented and recreated my own boxes. The most recent iteration at Hock Siong & Co., a second hand furniture shop, expands to include the collection of others who also keep things that they think are precious or might be useful in the future. It also sparked the creation of an online collection (click here to go to the library of boxes) that opportunes anyone anywhere to own a stranger's boxes.
The work encourages our curious desire to snoop through people’s things and reorganise boxes, as though they are toy building blocks, to our own personal logic. Yet, it also builds our understanding of how others are precious about objects as well as an object’s ability to act as a snapshot of a certain aspect and personality of a person in a point of time.
Contribute to The Library of Boxes
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Installation view of the exhibition Keys Under the Sofa at Hock Siong, Singapore in 2024
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installation view at Jalan Besar Salon, Singapore, 2021
This archive would not have been possible without the contributions from Chen Sai Hua Kuan, Doreen Tan, Lau Zi Hua, Shirly Koh, Stephanie Mary, Tan Hong Xiang, Teng Kee Wee, and Yen Pang.