We wrote about Monika Hoinkis' project Living With Things on our slowBlog, but it's worth repeating here.

Hoinkis proposes a series of seven everyday objects, modified in their functionality, that explore how intimate moments can be created between a human and an object. Her clever re-workings of these objects renders them as dependent on the user as s/he is on them: A desk lamp without hinges that begs to be cradled in a cupped hand. An umbrella that stays up only with help, draping over one's head and shoulders. A radio that functions solely in close proximity to a warm body. A metronome that, rather than dictating a beat to follow, instead keeps time to the rhythm of the person who shares the room with it. And more.

Living With Things was created to enhance everyday life in poetic rather than rational ways, creating moments that make one stop and consider. Hoinkis says "It won't change the world, but may alter our perception of it, and perhaps open up new ways of looking at things we often take for granted."

To be sure, the project is valuable for the awareness it raises about how we relate to the things around us. But it is equally intriguing when applied as a metaphor to all kinds of healthy interdependencies, not least the human ones which we sometimes call community.

Living With Things >