Catarina Claeson, When history becomes imagenary
"These are the secret lives of five historical artifacts, telling a story of one thousand years. So, there are five different stories that overlap each other, describing how the objects pass from person to person and travel from place to place. There is one brooch, one sword, one shield, one vase and a pistol. Each artifact appears in the story in chronological order according to when they were made. Most events take place in Europe. This is put together in a book with around 60 illustrations. In the end, the five stories are tied together. These artifacts can all be found today at Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City. If we see them there, we know the ending of their stories, but do we know the beginnings? Where were they made? By whom? Why? In many cases we will never know, but it can always be imagened. This is when history becomes imagenary - when the viewer is filling in the gaps of a story of objects that are anonymous, but real."
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