The Collection Plate has been collected. Its contents examined and archived – in that I have photographed and listed both the start and finish of the project.
When I put in the proposal I was reacting to the curator’s interest in exploring the temporary nature of exhibition in the contemporary gallery space – with a theme that drew on transience.
The weakness as I now percieve it is that I have no record of objects left in the bowl but taken out again before the end of the project. I know that some have changed- a baby’s blue mitten , a ‘gold’ child’s play ring, the head of a plastic figure and a credit card holder appeared and disappeared, but there were probably others.
I would love to have a future opportunity to re-run ‘Collection Plate’ but with a CCTV camera visble above it – thereby introducing an element of survillance [as in bank cash machines] during addition or withdrawl of objects in the plate…………
Items in collection plate on day one = not taken/ swopped:
Transparent hair ornament
brown hair grip
metallic red paper clip
metallic blue paper clip
pink paper clip
large black button
small black button
linen button
pink metal heart charm
orange sea glass
green sea glass lge
green sea glass sml
broken turqoise and pink charm
old gold and glass pressed flower pendant charm
orange ‘do not eat’ token
ceramic ‘elbow’
brass screw
white safety pin
20 euros
British 1p
British 1p
British 1p
British 1p
British 1p
British 2p
1 Euro
1 Euro
= 27 items.
Items in collection plate on day one taken/swopped during exhibition:
Gold charity heart brooch
orange trolley token
silver trolley token
blue and yellow glass bead
silverhair grip
printers badge
green marble
red glass bead
‘cricketer’ 5c coin
Euro 10 c coin
Burmese ‘dancer’ gold coin
British 1p
British 5p
British silver 5p
British silver 20p
British 1p
Euro 50c
Euro 10c
British £1.00
= 18 items
Items found in plate at end of exhibition= added /swopped:
Baby’s rattle dummy
Silver clip
Shell
Yellow bead
Glass from spectacles
Ring from keyring
Brown hairgrip
Red paper clip
Plastic spoon
Four sweets in wrapper
Small nail file
Plaster in plastic wrapper
Green Waitrose token
Red plastic plectrum
Small ball of Blue tack
Raffle ticket
Tiny white plastic figure
Dead flower x 2
Cinema Ticket
Snap bracelet label
Certificate of Posting
Minature Audi car badge
Confessional letter – hand written.
= 24 items.
So – money was taken but not added to the collection. Objects added or swopped with the exception of the confessional letter appear to be ‘pocket items.’
Visitors appear to have been willing to interact with it and to take money from an ‘ecumenical’ set up. I will be thinking around it all for a bit………….
