This week I met with an IMA professor Nancy Hechinger, who was also recommended to me on my proposal feedback. She offered some excellent feedback and references. We spoke on my idea to create a fictional person that I will base my exhibit on. She questioned the connection between my intended effect and the inherent nature of creating someone from scratch. I want to create the intimate feeling of getting to know someone through objects. She brought up that my pure fictional writing might not be authentic enough to create that magical connection. She suggested I influence my person on real-life stories.

She overall reassured the specific connection we all have to objects. She brought up the series A History of the World in 100 Objects, which recounts history through objects.

She suggested I speak to one of her past students Elle Degan, who did her thesis on the “Clockroom.” It’s an art installation that allows the guest to explore the objects of jackets. Each object has audio of a personal story. She did something similar to what I hope to do: create a new storytelling medium for discovering personal narratives. She used a smartphone hidden in a basket. She used near field communication (NFC), which allows two electronic objects to communicate. She placed NFC tags in each object. So when the guest places the object in the basket, the correct audio plays. I plan to reach out to her to discuss her experience and hear advice for my project.

She gave me many ideas for my project. One, instead of using object recognition, maybe I can have a port where guests can place an object that will activate my audio/visual. She wanted me to really focus on the audio. I agree, there’s something magical about picking up an object and having it talk to you. She suggested that maybe each object only has audio. Then one object has a visual that composites all the story. What if a visual appeared and as you pick up each object, it highlights the objects in that scene.

My takeaway was I need to make the magic in the simplest way I can. How can I preserve my intended effect with the least amount of tools?