Shit or Memories

This is a catalogue of three catalogues.

This is a website constructed for the purpose of viewing the physical catalogues as e-books. This is also a dedicated dump site for the documentation work that surrounds the creation of the catalogues.

Celebrating and archiving the work created by the collaborative efforts of three individuals: Dayoung Min, Matilda Cracknell and Harriet Burns. The resultant outcome was three catalogues offered up and explored in the digital format of this website. The three catalogues have been crafted by the aforementioned individuals under the broad format of a ‘catalogue’.

The objects catalogued were collected and submitted by the individuals mentioned above. They were submitted against the even broader criteria of ‘sentimental objects’. Five objects were offered by the individuals totalling fifteen objects.

The experience attempting to be articulated in this work is an attack on preconceived notions on several fronts:

the exploration of what a ‘catalogue’ can constitute,

the categorisation of what can be understood as a ‘sentimental object’,

how narratives can be collected and consumed to create hermeneutic readings, personal to individual readers,

how the presentation of outcomes can be navigated alongside rough documentation work to aid the readers to follow design processes and conceptual progression,

the disparity between the tangible interaction of a physical object versus a digital presentation.

Some of the richest and most potent outcomes were developed through the sharing of original responses and subsequent rework. The bastardisation of others’ precious memories and belongings and the imbrication of ‘low-fi’ and popular media elements against things that are entirely subjective, to create a juxtaposition of accessibility.

The outcomes are entertaining and informative, balancing what is perceived to be fiction and fact. They transcend the factual evidence we hope to garner from catalogues in favour of stories littered with profanity and irony. They push the boundaries of what we consider to be true or false through the different artistic voices who all shout legitimacy.