significant objects

Below: a description of the Significant Objects project which explores the relationship between the subjective and objective values we assign to everyday things:

THE PROJECT:

1. The project’s curators purchase objects — for no more than a few dollars — from thrift stores and garage sales.
2. A participating writer is paired with an object. He or she then writes a fictional story, in any style or voice, about the object. An unremarkable, castoff thingamajig has suddenly become a “significant” object!
3. Each significant object is listed for sale on eBay. The s.o. is pictured, but instead of a factual description the s.o.’s newly written fictional story is used. However, care is taken to avoid the impression that the story is a true one; the intent of the project is not to hoax eBay customers.
4. The winning bidder is mailed the significant object, along with a printout of the object’s fictional story. Net proceeds from the sale are given to the respective author. Authors retain all rights to their stories.

there are a lot of things that i love about this project, including but not limited to:
arbitrary assignment of context and value, the imbuing of value in everyday things, the loving of downtrodden objects.

more about the project here
buy items (and read the stories behind them) from the project here

on a related note, this looks pretty good.