critical objects

A way to read everyday objects as art (or how to write a critical essay). *

1. Approach any object (or site) holding a cultural theory text.

2. Stand next to the object and flip the text open, choose a passage at random. 3. Read the passage referring it’s meaning to the object.

4. Take a photo of the object.

5. Publish them alongside each other, citing your references.

This set of guidelines were performed with a collaborator George Shaw and myself as a part of the mindful encounters series, after which George commented that ‘the objects had an uncanny way of being relevant every time’20.

* The idea was developed in the aftermath of a collaborative performance with Abi Tariq at the 31st São Paulo biennale, October 2014. That piece was called Act of being; active reading/writing wherein a similar approach to random reading was employed.