There's plenty more good stuff on the site, like 26 Exchanges, Phaidon Design Classics, Songs of Imagination and Digitisation and The New Goodbye. Well worth following and supporting.
A few weeks back, I took part in a project called Significant Objects, designed to test the commercial power of story-telling. 100 writers were each given a near-worthless item from a junk shop and asked to write a story about it, thereby investing it
with a newfound 'significance'. The object and its story went up on eBay, with
a disclaimer explaining the nature of the project. My object was an upside-down
ceramic clown.
It's a US-based project and has won widespread support and acclaim over there, so I was both pleased and intimidated to be the only UK writer taking part. For the first time in my life, I was representing Queen and country. And, reader, I failed.
Or at least, I didn't exactly set the world alight. Despite my carefully crafted poem, Kenny came in 87th out of 100, selling for $11.61 compared to an original price of $2.
It gets worse.
During the course of the bidding, I watched as Kenny rose rapidly to $11.11, then stalled for days on end. It was late, we'd had a few drinks, one thing led to another. My wife put in a bid. $11.61. No one else beat it. We won Kenny.
(On arrival at our place, Kenny headed straight for a colour-coordinated Alan Kitching screenprint, demonstrating that he is a clown of great taste.)
So Kenny came 87th and we were the winning bidders.
I apologise to everyone.
Kenny himself is surprisingly upbeat about it. Seeing the world upside-down has its advantages – he thinks we came just outside the top ten.
NB: Despite my
inadvertent attempts at sabotage, Significant Objects as a whole has been a
resounding success and is now moving on to a new stage: a charity auction with
new writers and new objects. Well worth keeping track of developments. There's also some amusing data nerdiness over here.
Not sure, but I think that might be a tear I can see running down (up?) Kenny's face. Bidding on eBay ends in a matter of hours and so far he's not made quite the fortune he was hoping for.
Still time, of course. Yes, still time. Someone's bound to realise what a lovely addition he would make to any household. There are probably hundreds of people out there waiting for the right moment. There'll be a few zeroes after that price before you know it! Of course, there will! Chin up, Kenny!
UPDATE: Bidding has now closed... at $11.61. Concluding thoughts and details of Kenny's new home will follow after a decent interval.
A couple more developments on Significant Objects to share (background in last couple of posts) – first of all, this article on the Eye Magazine blog; and also an interview I did with Rob Walker, co-curator of the project, which is now up on the 26 website.
An initial flurry of bidding has brought Kenny up to $11.11. Bidding remains open until 6pm this Friday 16 October, so it’s all to play for.
Finally, they're running an open contest if you fancy writing a story yourself – details here.
My Significant Object has gone up on eBay. He's called Kenny and he’s a funny clown. Please bid – it’ll make him happy.
Bid for Kenny
Bidding closes Friday 16 October (around 6pm).
UK postage is included in the quoted shipping cost.
Time to explain what that picture of a clown was all about (see below).
I'm taking part in Significant Objects, a US-based project designed to test the commercial power of a good story.
The idea is that 100 creative writers are each assigned a near-worthless object and asked to write a story about it. Invested with new significance by this fiction, the object should — according to the project’s hypothesis — acquire not only subjective but objective value. How to test the theory? Via eBay.
You can read the full details here. So far, the project has raised $2,023.96 for 64 items purchased for a total of $84.48 – a ‘Significance Premium’ of 2,295%.
As far as I can make out, I’m the only UK writer taking part, so I'm representing my country on this one. I’ve been assigned the cheeky ceramic clown pictured below (and, more fuzzily, above). It’ll go up on eBay in the next few days, with my accompanying story. Then the bidding will commence. Feel free to join in, or at least spread the word. International shipping is available.
For the sake of transparency, I should say that any profit made on the object goes to me. The thinking is that, if it went to charity, it would skew the results. This is all about ruthless commercial gain.
Further updates soon.
About to do something interesting involving this little fella. More news shortly.
