About the project:

An Object is the speculative biography of a strange metal object that was found on the foreshore of the River Thames.

Every consumer product on the planet has a complex, unwieldy history. These products are shaped by the hands of countless labourers; move through opaque, global supply chains; and leave a legacy of environmental destruction in their wake. However, all of this history is invisible at the point of use.

This project aims to make these invisible histories visible, using a found object as a case study, whose story is told through the medium of a multimedia web exhibition (prototyped using the Mozilla Hubs platform). Presented as a surreal museum, the exhibition describes the story of the object from the birth of the universe until its discovery in the Thames through a series of 3D models and found footage films.

Using amateur forensics, citizen sleuthing and storytelling, An Object attempts to piece together a history for a defunct thing, from cradle to grave and beyond.

Project trailer:

Gallery:

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Attributions:

This project was developed with supervision, advice, feedback and contributions from:

• the r/whatisthisthing subreddit,
• Marty, Curator of The Pram Museum,
• Internet Archive,
• and the students and faculty of MA Material Futures.