SAINT HENRI NEIGHBOURHOOD, MONTREAL (CA)
The Democracy of Objects Project, explores our relationship to objects: specifically to objects that once played a role in our social, cultural and personal lives, but have since been discarded. Most of these objects are destined for landfill sites, while others, remain scattered along the streets, in alleyways, or in someone's back yard.
The Democracy of Objects Project is in part, an archaeological and anthropological quest into the significance of those objects left behind: their relationship to whoever may encounter them; their relationship to the spaces they now occupy, and their relationship to each other.
The genesis of The Democracy of Objects Project was three fold. First off, I had just finished reading Levi R. Bryant's book, The Democracy of Objects, from which the project gets its name. Secondly, I began going on ritual walks in my neighbourhood and noticing discarded objects in varying rates of decay. Thirdly, I began to reflect the impact of objects on political, cultural and personal representations, spaces and the environment.
In his book, Bryant points out an interesting observation regarding our relationship to objects: “ordinarily, upon hearing the word ‘object’, the first thing we think is ‘subject’. Our second thought, perhaps, is that objects are fixed, stable and unchanging, and therefore to be contrasted with events and processes” (13). I began to ask myself: do I really know these objects? How and why did I happen upon them? I began to realize that the objects themselves possessed no one system of prioritization: no single object was inherently more or less important than another, and yet, I would interpret and frame each object in a very personalized way, based on where and how I encountered it.
The Democracy of Objects Project works both on a conceptual level and as a tool – a ontological compass if you like – to negotiate, and reflect on our relationship to objects. The project wishes to engage and empower participants in a pluralistic and unprivileged experiencing and understanding of said objects: not only with those found objects, which they may encounter during a walk, but the numerous objects which surround them on a daily basis, from cell phones and satellites to cars and cooking utensils. Perhaps in this way, some sort of balance may be restored between ourselves, and the environment.
