To emulate Daniel Miller’s work in The Comfort of Things, I’ll be interviewing students on campus to find out what really matters to the community. As Miller’s book reveals, each character is faced with a linear story of why they have an object, why they decided to keep it and what they expect to do with these objects in the future. The objects, in ownership of each person or each portrait within the work, also has some meaning. Items include anything from a form of rehabilitation to security, from love to loneliness. In its most basic solid or liquid form, the object has representation of another subject, emotion, person, event or thing.
However, objects might indicate the opposite, where objects don’t represent anything or are not seen as important to certain human beings. For example, in his chapter “A Thousand Places to See Before You Die,” Miller reveals a couple who have no attachment to objects. The portrait reveals the couple as unsentimental to objects, given their traveling experiences.
For my project, I’ll be choosing students from a floor within a residence hall. In my research, I don’t want to only include one gender identity. Given that most floors are split between males and females, as of right now on campus, I have chosen to do a multi-gendered floor. It would be interesting to analyze what students value within their dorms. Dorms are interesting because most students, who live on campus, don’t usually have personal possessions within their dorms. However, I hope each person will have an object with some significance.
For this project, I’ll be creating a number of videos, audio pieces and slideshows of each student after I interview them. I am concerned with the timing of the final project because it is due soon, but I think I’ll have a great batch of multimedia pieces to show the community at the end of the semester.
Here’s a short preview of what I’ll be doing. Emily Weiss is a third-year art education major at SUNY New Paltz. She shares the story behind a family heirloom which has been passed down through generations of women. Her locket and its chain has been worn during family gatherings, struggling times and war.
Please be advised that this is a draft. I’m currently working on editing the sound and getting actual pictures of the locket. Photo credit: Emily Weiss’ Facebook
The Materials of History, Thought, and Art 
This is really cool, Ricky! I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.
This seems really interesting! I like the research aspect of it, and I’m curious what objects come up
This is really cool, and I love the audio aspect because it really adds something special to hear the story from their perspective, in their voice. Is there any way you can get photos of the objects, too?
Ricky, I’m not sure if you spliced any of these sound bits together or if you just asked the perfect question to get this response, but this is INCREDIBLE. I am so excited to see what you put together, seriously.
Very clever idea! I think you’ll be doing the legacy of The Comfort of Things justice. Do you think you’ll be handling this more as a social experiment/case study or as an artistic project through multimedia?
I think you should also report back on how people respond to your project as well… as in, if people are generally willing or unwilling to participate. As well as maybe noting why people may or may not be inclined to participate as it could speak to our studies in peoples’ relations with material culture.