OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 01 MOTORBIKE

“For me, the Royal Enfield Bullet I ride, is the sound, heart, heartbeat and soul of India. I go into a Zen-like state when I ride it. It takes me home in a way no other ride possibly can. Home is not only a place. It is a time and a place with a delightful mix of sights, sound, tastes, and smells. And a sleep so deep, and dreams within.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 03 CAT MIRROR

“My home is Chateau Nai Nai. It is 90 square meters, the house where I live with my son, my husband, and a cat.
I brought this mirror in Tunisia, when I was 17. The mirror is small enough to carry everywhere. In NZ you cannot put things on walls unless you own the house. You can lean this mirror on the wall. So, it is easy to personalize any room with this mirror, and it contains memories of the modern side of Tunisia, where I grew up.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 07 PILLOW

“The bedroom is the first room where I start setting up, everytime I move. And the first object I unpack is always my pillow. When I travel, I always bring my own pillow. It does not have to be this exact pillow. I buy new pillows every now and then, but it has to be ‘my pillow.’”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 07 GAME PINS

“I was working as a game maker organising Olympic Games and World Cups. These pins have a huge sentimental value to me. Two of these are from the Vancouver Games. The third is from the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, and this one represents my country of New Zealand as well as the relationship I had with my home and my country’s team. It also represents the relationship that I had with my home, my team, my country team.
You can’t really buy these badges. They are given by the athletes as a token of appreciation and friendship to people who meant a lot to them during the games.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 07 METAL BOX

“My adoptive father was in the army, so we moved every two years: to Christ Church; Gisborne; Singapore; West Coast, New Zealand; South Island, New Zealand; Auckland, and back to Christ Church. I also went on a backpack trip to Australia, Nepal, Thailand, Germany, Brighton in England, Egypt, USA, Japan, and back to New Zealand. Then, I met somebody special in Wellington in 2013.
I have less attachment to objects, and more attachment to the stories. Objects mean some kind of home to me. My knowledge is patched together, so I make things up using objects.
Many of my artworks were lost in the earthquake. Only my laptop carries all the images of my artworks from 2000 until now. Its function is storage, which makes it a home. So, my laptop is my home.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 01 Headdress

“In my family, wearing a hat always symbolises the western culture. I always hide myself in hats. The bowing gestures of this sculpture resembled Japanese politeness and being reserved. It seemed as if I was building walls around me and turning into an object.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 03 Handbag

“When a handbag goes missing, it is an indication that my mind is out of balance. I fear these moments. During the experiment with gestures, I was carrying Handbag on my back, which slid off me like a snail. Despite the struggle to crawl across the floor, the external appearance of the Handbag was graceful. It was telling me to slow down and go at my own pace.
Just before filming Encapsulation Suits, I forgot my handbag on a train. A man contacted me through email. I met him on a platform of a station. I learned that handbags could return.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 05 Bag of flour

“In 2013, I was scared of flour products like cookies, bread, noodles, but I could not help not eating them. It gave me a different body, and it felt like living in someone else’s body. Bag of Flour tempts a woman, absorbs her from inside, sucks her soul, and kills her. But she reawakens and becomes a stronger house.”
-Yuka Oyama

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 01 BEER HOUSE

“I work as a courier, delivering express-products all over Europe. I typically get calls to travel at short notice, and two hours later I’ll be on the road for a few days.
I always have a suitcase packed and ready, where I keep my clothes and a duvet. I also have a small ‘party bag’ with funky clothes. Because I travel a lot, I need to feel like everything back home is secure and safe. Home means having good friends and family around, especially dining together. One of the objects that makes any place a home is a bottle of beer. It symbolises social gatherings with my close friends in my house.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 03 DRESS

“Home isn’t a physical place for me, but a space in which I’m surrounded by special objects. Clothes make up a part of my home. I spent two years in the army where wearing a uniform was mandatory. I also had to wear my hair in a specific way and I wasn’t allowed to wear jewellery. It was very hard for me to have no personal freedom of expression through clothes and dressing up.
This dress is the oldest item I have in my wardrobe. Even though the places I have lived in and my body has changed a lot through the years, this dress has not changed. It makes me feel at home in my own body.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 05 PICTURE OF HER GRANDMOTHER

“I moved to Denmark in 2001 in my late twenties. I come from Syria. Home is where love is. When there is no more love, the home can also turn into a non-home. Home is the place where you can take off your mask and show your weakness.
Many women in Syria stop caring about themselves, because most of them are hidden at home doing housework. I do not want to be wearing worn down clothes and hide at home. I want to take care of myself, like my grandmother did. She was a beautiful woman.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 07 KEYS

“I am originally from Kazakhstan. I am a gas engineer and I worked in the petroleum industry. Because of my work, I have lived in Aman, Kuwait, Scotland, Italy and Denmark.
The keys are from my home in Kazakhstan and don’t actually fit into any doors anymore. I have left the house and the locks have been changed, but I can never throw them away. They mean that I can always come back home and that no bridges were burned. Each key has a history and represents a place.”

ANIMAL STORY ARCHIVE 01 DRAGON

“I am born in the year of Dragon.”

ANIMAL STORY ARCHIVE 03 HARE

“Peaceful and friendly. I am a born hare. My name is Haase (hare in German).”

ANIMAL STORY ARCHIVE 06 KOALA BEAR
“Quiet, cozy, and cuddling. I always have to come down. Lying on a sofa.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 08 CAT

“My fear of dogs has eventually lead me to completely retreat from my religion and my friendships with faith brothers. Consequently, it made me a complete loner like a cat—all this was caused by dogs.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 01 MOON SHELVES

Moon-shaped shelves have steps on which small figurines, like angels, can be placed. They are also known as ‘Stairways to Heaven’. They were popular between the 1930s and 1950s and were made in woodwork classes, as exercises for learning how to cut zigzags and curves.

The collector of moon shelves (M) owns about 200 such objects, and approximately 100 of these hang in her living room. To M, moon shelves are metaphors of things such as spiritual journeys and longing. The steps are elevations; they move upwards and reach beyond the moon.

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 03 ARTWORKS FROM NORTHEAST OHIO FROM 1910-1920The collector of artworks made in northeast Ohio between 1910 and 1920 (A) describes his practice as collecting ‘art from the teens.’ This period, he explains, was the heyday of Ohio and its art, when John D. Rockefeller, the founder of the Standard Oil Company, and other industrial giants were patrons of local artists.
Activities like eating and going out, travelling or going on holiday are of no value to him. His art collection gives him pleasure and he can enjoy the items every day.

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 05 SEWING MACHINES

The collector of sewing machines (S) is an engineer who repairs analogue and highly digitized electric sewing machines.

In the 1970s and 1980s, there were over 10,000 people who worked at sewing companies in Ohio. Then the USA introduced free trade with Mexico and China, which resulted in the collapse of the textile industry in the Midwest. S could not bear to see the abandoned sewing machines from these liquidated factories left to stand outdoors and so he gathered them together and took them home. This resulted in a loft full of sewing machines.

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 07 SPACE-AGE FURNITURE
The collector of Space-Age furniture (SA) had always fancied surrounding herself with futuristic objects. She discovered Space-Age furnishings when her parents took her to a furniture store, where she fell in love with a curious Space Age Ball Chair that was ball-shaped and had a built-in stereo sound system. This and other objects with organic shapes, bright colours and alien-like appearance made her feel like she was living on another planet. Her collection represents an attempt to create another world that thinks more openly and accepts what it is.

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 01 FIVE SPECIAL PERSONAL OBJECTS THAT HELP MAKE A PLACE MY HOME:
Teddy bear, sister, mama, cat

“The place where my mum and younger sister are, that is my home. It is located on Hansa Street in Berlin. My special Teddy also needs to be there at home.”

Created Story: “Horror Bear”
“Mum, there was a horror bear!” screamed little Emma.
“You have got quite a fantasy!” said her mum. Maybe that was really Emma’s fantasy. Or maybe there was a horror bear.
“Oh, well,” said Emma’s older sister Line. “I want to play hide-and-seek with you. But only if you want to,” she continued.
“Sure! Hee, hee, hee,” Emma replied. They played until dinner.

Mum cooked spaghetti for dinner. Mothers all think that children love spaghetti with tomato sauce. Line and Emma actually don’t like pasta. After dinner, they all went to sleep.
In the middle of the night, Emma screamed again, “Horror bear!”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 01 FIVE SPECIAL PERSONAL OBJECTS THAT HELP MAKE A PLACE MY HOME:
Dog, portal, mama, papa, teddy bear, 3 DSXL, house

“My dad is from El Salvador, and my mum is German. I was born in Berlin, lived in El Salvador for one year, and we came back to Berlin, when I was five.

My dog Sarah makes a place my home. I just love her. I also played the main character in a theatre once and I was a dog. At home I play with Sarah and Lego. If I bring Sarah and Lego to my grandma’s house, that’s also my home.”

Created Story: “Friendship Against the Power of Evil”

Once upon a time, there was a female dog, who was happy.
All of a sudden a portal appeared on the floor, and the dog fell into another world, where she met a dog. The two dogs became good friends.

The new friend said, “I have been locked into this space for seven years! Can you help me get out of this world?” The two dogs fought against the evil and finally came back to the real world again. They stayed best friends and lived happily ever after.

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 01 Fishing boat

“A student shared memories with me of fishing with his father almost every weekend. The space he constructed with cardboard sheets represents a space between a pair of sails. He told me the his memories of waking up in darkness in the early morning, packing up the equipment, going on the sailboat, and listening to the sound of the wind. Sitting together with his father between the two sails was home for him.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 03 Matisse poster

“A student explained the story of a poster showing a blue woman, one of Matisse’s cut-outs that hung above the family dining table. While staring at this poster, she wondered why the legs and hands of this woman were so long.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 05 Sewing machine

“A student from Estonia told me the story of her grandmother’s sewing machine that created the ‘sound of home’.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 07 Ribbon bow

“A student had to wear an embarrassingly large ribbon bow on her head as a child. It is a Russian tradition for girls to wear ribbons in their hair. Her mother’s hobby was to make ridiculously large balls out of ribbons to wear on her head. The student showed me a photograph of herself as a young girl dressed in a large bow as big as her head—a testament to her embarrassment.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 02 Dress
“This is a dress that my grandmother and then my mother wore before I received it. I made men cat-call me, when I was like 16.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 04 Aquarel colours
“These are my aquarel colours that my grandfather gave me years ago. My grandfather and I don’t talk right now.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 06 Sketchbook
“This is a note/sketchbook that I was using at the age of 16 – 18, so it has a lot of self-revelation inside.”

OBJECT STORY ARCHIVE 08 Laptop
“Please free me from you.”