—Jarrett Earnest, “Introduction: For a Living” in The Art of Dying by Peter Schjeldahl (2024)
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What is an Object Party?
The Party
A gathering of “items”, “things”, and “bits”, brought discreetly by guests (likely from their homes), to be looked at in detail and talked about in close-proximity, with the intent of breathing into them a new life and of revealing qualities that may be lying dormant. That is to say: the objects will be inspected, perceived, and scrutinized like never before; attended-to closely and noticed generously. The objects are to be seen on their own and with their fellow objects, independent of their bringers.
A sanctuary, however brief, for our attention, and for our stuff.
The experience is recorded in words and scribbles and collected in the Object Party Archive.
The Object
The object chosen should be from one’s “background.” That means everyday surroundings: it might live on the mantle, desktop, or be hung on a wall; it could be stored in the back of a drawer or left on the car’s dash. To be sufficiently “background” the object contains qualities that are latent and overlooked. It seldomly draws eyeballs that truly see it (i.e. it’s not noticed much, or not anymore). The object might be something kept around for its appearance, its symbolism, its practical use, or for no discernible reason at all (it’s just there), like a tchotchke, knickknack, bric-a-brac, or trinket. When choosing an object, it should fit in one or two hands and not be too fragile. Novelty should not be a factor in choosing, so there should be no shortage of these objects around.
Rules
- one object per person per party
- for anonymity, the object should be brought in a nondescript brown paper bag (one object per bag)
- the bringer of each object should stay anonymous for the duration of the party
- a paired edible item (not anonymous) may be requested and should be relevant to the brought object (up to the bringer what that means)
- all other details (potential additional themes or constraints, start time, date, location, etc.) are communicated separately by the host
- each party lasts 2-3 hours
- phones or other devices should be set aside for party’s duration