Object Permanence
Object Permanence – The Object Permanence project took place in May 2009, at Portland State University, in the park blocks outside of the Smith Memorial Student Union building. For three days, the Object Mobile functioned as a temporary mobile gallery, featuring objects contributed by Portland State students. Passersby were encouraged to visit the “gallery” and then sit down and type about or draw their own objects of sentimental value.
Responses included typewritten pages about everything from an Irish penny (given to a girl by her father, for good luck on her first day of preschool) to a stuffed gorilla (given to a young African woman by the American family who sponsored her to come). The drawings were equally great: jars of Arabian spice by a homesick Arab student. A sketch of a bear called “Minky,” made of real mink fur that came with a bottle of French perfume. So many stories hidden inside the objects. There is a permanent piece of the Object Mobile installed on PSU campus now, full of interesting objects, each with their own story, (see it on the 2nd floor of the student union building, just outside the elevators).