Do objects have history?, of course, as they do have politics (¿Tienen política los artefactos?). So the point of departure of re:tag, one of the projects of Interactivos?10 lead by Sandra Dávila, is to recover the hidden history of objects in order to enhance and make visible our emotional connection with them and encourage their re-use. We were walking around in the Barrio de las letras yesterday looking for objects left in the street to work with them in the project, as Monday is the fixed day in which the city council service removes this kind of things. And we found all kind of things: a pair of suitcases, a teddy bear, a garden table with a sunshade… each time we found a pile of things in the street all of us pounce on it to discover what was there and we started to imagine possible hidden stories behind those objects.
Now, we have to work on the implementation of the project, as it is described in our wiki page:
Individuals wishing to get rid of appliances, furniture, and clothes will leave a voice message on a database describing the story of the to-be discarded product. A costumed tag with a unique ID and telephone number will then be placed on the object before being disposed of on the street. Dialling the instructed number, neighbours or passerbys will hear the voice message, getting qualitative information about the product. By fostering trust in the object, locals are more likely to re-use it, thus reducing the overall waste within the community.
So, for any of you interested in willing to remove any object of your life and tell its history, or willing to listen to other’s stories, we call you to participate the next Thursday June 17 from 10.00 to 20.00 to meet in the Medialab, where we will organize a meeting to tell the hidden history of re-usable objects. See you!
