Resisting ‘Inquisition’: The Object’s Right To Silence

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The more they don’t speak the more we want to hear them. The more we yearn to know what they are saying behind our backs. This is a strategy, this dumbness. This is a considered non-participation in human chit-chat. But are they bugging us, tracing and tracking us? Sending information about us elsewhere?
This is sci-fi at its finest, but sci-fi is becoming reality everyday. The utilities of these objects are their disguises. Once they have a function, they can disappear.
This is a conversation that took place between Emma Cocker, Yang Jiwon, Amy Davies, Jos Boys, Matthew Harrison, Dale Holmes, Lea Torp Nielsen, Harriet Davies, Gary Simmonds, Julie Westerman and Ruth Wilde. It started at 2:45pm on march 23rd 2012, and is still going.
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How Does An Object Relate To The Overall Topology Of The Space?

Exploring what constitutes atmosphere and how this unseen force emanates. Don’t you think there are spaces that already hold their own energy? Such as the UFO museum in New Mexico or the Museum of Witchcraft in Cornwall. You have to be there to feel it. You can’t feel it through the technology of the computer screen.
This is a conversation that took place between Robert Wallis, Richard Layzell, Karen David and Yang Jiwon. It started at 4:15pm on 23rd march 2012, and is still going.
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Fiona’s provocation
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Topology |təˈpäləjē|
Noun
1 Mathematics the study of geometric properties and spatial relations unaffected by the continuous change of shape or size of figures.
• A family of open subsets of an abstract space such that the union and the intersection of any two of them are members of the family, and that includes the space itself and the empty set.
2 The way in which constituent parts are interrelated or arranged : the topology of a computer network.

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Objects In Fiction

Don’t let the truth get in the way of a great story. Imagined objects are snuffed out when they are realised by someone else in the film of the book. What is this dissatisfaction? We must hold pictures of objects in our minds akin to characters, and this failure to represent our own narratives means these objects must serve another purpose… are time machines involved?
This is a conversation that took place between Richard Layzell, Paul Wilson, Yang Jiwon, Michelle Atherton and Matthew Harrison. It started at 5:00pm on 23rd March 2012, and is still going.
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Objects In The Urban Environment

London vs Seoul. The cuteness of Gilbert + George; have you ever seen them dining in Dalston? This discussion attempts to move a cup with telekineses. And covers pigs, pigheads, pyschosis, truth and literal meaning. Are objects in urban environments extensions of our bodies? Perhaps we are mediated by objects through our relations with them. We continue to misunderstand them. Who is driving your car? We say our interaction defines their use, so the opposite is also applicable to us?
This is a conversation that took place between Yang Jiwon, Eugene Nyee Macki, Michelle Atherton, Lucia Farinati and Sharon Kivland. It started at 3:30pm on March 23rd 2012, and is still going.
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Object abuse asks the question:
who or what is being abused?

Object Abuse has been set up to provide a platform for people to discuss, provoke and question the very nature and orientation of objects. The aim is to readdress the unquestioned drives of our collective pursuits, to turn the tables on the object-subject dynamic.

This investigation’s relevance is reflected in recent developments in philosophy, shifts in our socio-cultural landscape and is finding expression in the visual arts. This questioning of our human-centric perspective is reflected through current ideas found in the works of Bruno Latour, Graham Harman, Quentin Meillassoux, Anselm Franke and others.

The question: what exactly is object abuse is by no means obvious, when you think about it, who is to say the object in question is passive and not active? Also it is worth asking where does the form of abuse originate from? What qualifies abuse, is it quantifiable, can we identify subtler variations? And for that matter; what is an object, or rather can we say what is not an object…with any real certainty?

OA‘s function is to invite a multidisciplinary engagement; to be a forum, a curatorial framework and an archival space.

We welcome expressions of interest and contributions to the ongoing debate.