1
“I’d probably pick time…because I find it comforting to know how much time I have, and how much I
can achieve within a certain time frame.”
2
“Why did you pick the gun?”
“Well, I read ‘protection’ under it so, you know, it’s sort of a good thing to have…my safest place would
be like, home, and like, my bed. That’s where I usually you know, feel most comfortable in, it’s my safety
zone.”
3
“Why did you choose that object, [Grazia magazine] and not another?”
“Umm…because I bought it yesterday and I haven’t finished reading it. Um, and I’m really into the whole
Jen/Brangelina thing, embarrassingly so. Basically that’s why I picked this. And it’s pretty, and colourful.”
“Does it bring you comfort?”
“Yes. A little bit. Because it’s about …it’s like TV, it’s not your life it’s someone else’s so it’s
like…interesting. And nothing can go wrong with you because it’s someone else’s life.”
“What would be the least comforting object on the table?”
“Um, probably the cigarettes. Or the gun. Either way, um….they’re life threatening things I guess. If it’s
protection it’s still because someone’s after you, therefore it’s dangerous…it’s just bad, really. And
cigarettes, they’re just really bad, also, everybody that smokes them…smells.”
“Do you have any items of comfort?”
“Um, a phone. I have a teddy bear.”
“So why didn’t you choose that?” [soft toy]
“Well, no because it’s not mine. It’s definitely…somebody’s personal thing. I mean, you have to have
your own teddy bear.”
4
“So, why did you pick these objects?”
“Because smoking gives me something to do, when I don’t have anything to do…which is a lot of the time
, and I like listening to music because it can put you in any mood, like, if you’re in a happy mood….all
music puts you in a mood (maybe)…The gun scares me, oh it’s supposed to be protection. That’s kinda
weird…I don’t have objects that are really special to me or anything, maybe like jewellery or something.”
5
“[Laptop] it’s probably because it’s more important to me than all of the others, and I have more of a
connection with it, um, I’m always on my computer and that’s how I access the majority of my emails
…it’s more of a tool for me.”
“Is there anything you don’t like?”
“I dunno…probably those black rabbits…dunno, they’re just …there’s something about them I don’t quite
like. I like bunnies but not those in particular.”
[An item not on the table you find comfort in] “Probably my bed, it’s like…warm…cosy”
6
“You have to choose one object on the table…”
“Oh the gun, that’s my baby…what’s next?” [He used one in LA for protection]
7
“Am I allowed to say none of them?...I guess, music could be one. I don’t really know, I’m just always
listening to music I guess”
“At the start of the interview you said none of them…why?”
“Yeah I did, maybe I’m just not particularly comfortable.”
8
“I would choose the camera, I don’t know, I just liked the…it looks slightly [?] …it looks like really cool”
“Do you take a lot of pictures?”
“Yeah”
“So you like to take pictures to catch memories and stuff like that?”
“Yeah”
“If that is you most comfortable object on the table, what would be the least?”
“Maybe the cigarettes, yeah, because I really don’t like the smell of the smoking”
“Do you have any comfort objects on you now?”
“Yeah, iPod”
“Do you find comfort in technology?”
“I prefer old things”
9
“So you picked light, does it bring you comfort?”
“Um, not like this, it’s not on! I guess, maybe you’re right; it has the potential of giving comfort. But as it
is now you can only just…snap it, so it’s quite fragile.”
“So what would be the least comfortable?”
“I think this…these rabbits. Um, it’s the imitation of something…so unreal, and useless, whereas this one
[lightbulb] has a use.”
“So you feel that you find comfort in an object when it brings a notion of utility and function to your life,
more than just like a decorative object?”
“Yeah”
“So why didn’t you choose the computer, the phone or even the gun?”
“Well the gun’s not real”
“Yeah it’s just like, the notion of it, the concept of it”
“Oh ok, I’m not really good at concepts, I’m better at what’s there to be honest. I would say I’m quite
good at picking things that bring people comfort, like, it’s all wool and…I think it’s…authenticity, that it’s
not made of synthetic fibres”
10
[Translated]
“The camera, because…you can keep your memories, you can keep experiences, trap the impressions. “
“Why did you choose the camera and not the photograph?”
“Because with the camera he can find his own experiences. If he had chosen the picture…it was static, it
was already made. It’s not so much the function, he likes to have that power, or be able to take his
experiences and capture them”
“What would be the least comfortable object on the table?”
“Hitler. The image shows something dark, it’s very funny that the gun is just next to him.”
“Do you have any personal objects in your every day life that bring you comfort?”
“Music. Something calm; a bit more for the soul. Not classical, but for healing”
“Why didn’t you choose the computer, the phone or the contemporary device for music? For comfort?”
“Because they’re time thieves. They use up too much time.”
“So you don’t think music and taking photos takes up too much time?”
“No, because that’s what he takes his time for. So he takes the time to sit down and listen to the music.
It’s the experience of it, and the experience of going out and taking the photograph. If he goes out with
the camera, he goes out to have an experience. There are too many stimulations, too much information
[with a computer] He can have a better concentration when there’s not a lot of different disturbing
elements….He is my grandfather, he flew in from Copenhagen to have a look at my exhibition….[he
thinks] we are too concerned about physical objects. Going forward is a good thing…progress is good,
that’s what made him able to come here today, [flying in] but sometimes progress makes us so concerned
with the object itself, so you need a better phone because it has a camera with a greater amount of pixels,
but actually you can just use your eyes and see. We don’t get to experience it because it’s always moving
beyond us. Thinking of a very poor place, you could think that…although they have all the disasters, you
can still find happiness, it’s not based on the material. It’s interesting to think that we could still be here
without all this, and still find happiness.”
11
“Why music? Because…there’s like music for every situation and every emotion you feel kind of thing,
and if you find it, then you feel comforted cause you feel like you’re not alone…well it’s because it’s kind
of like a communication with like, um, whoever wrote the music. It’s like, if you feel like…a bit strange,
then if you find the right music it suits your mood, then you kind of feel like whoever wrote that song
probably felt the same. And that’s nice. That’s why it’s comforting. I guess like music now is kind of
technology based because of the way it’s recorded, but to me like real music is live music. And when I
say music I also mean playing music myself, it’s kind of therapeutic.”
“The least comfortable…um…maybe technology, no actually, I don’t know. Kind of like, I think that
sometimes, sometimes things that you think would be comfortable and comforting can actually make you
more anxious, like money can make you quite an anxious person. Because you want loads of money
because you think it will make you comfortable, but actually, I think that the desire to want more money
just makes you an anxious person really.”
“It’s the state of mind of like, wanting more all the time, and that’s not comforting at all”
“These shoes are really comfy. At home? I guess, probably like my dad’s record collection, like, that’
really comforting. Yeah like I said, there’s music for any situation really. Just because…I kind of agree
with his selection and it’s a lot of good music…there’s like a lot of musicians I respect. When I put it on
on vinyl, you take time out to listen to it and stuff.”
“What do you think about the gun?”
“The gun? I don’t know, I guess I’m a bit of a [passivist]…I don’t think that you need to have guns to feel
protected. Um…I don’t know, I feel like…when I was younger people used to give me trouble, but no
one ever really got anything off me. Like I used to have trouble because like…I didn’t know whether to
fight back or not…I think that carrying something around with you probably makes you act more like a
victim because you’re like…scared. You’d only be carrying that round if you were a nervous person, so
like…having that is reaffirming that you’re nervous.”
“I think that…this idea that like, objects are going to make you happy, it’s just like a product of
consumerism. I really feel like this year, especially with all the economic stuff happening, I feel like
there’s kind of a backlash against that.”
“Maybe it’s just me but I feel like I’m kind of past that now, like…especially communication and
technology, they just…I’m kind of seeing the negative affect that they have. And money and…yeah I don’t
know…it’s just kind of like, to me it’s just a success of Capitalism really.”
“When you talk about all the comforts in someone’s life, they’re not just choosing objects, they’re
choosing something more”
“Because there’s always been that thing, that there’s more than the object, it’s just that people are making
money out of people’s desires to have that comfort. I really feel like there’s some real downsides to it,
people get so distracted with…talking to their friends on Facebook, they don’t realise that all they’re doing
is sitting in a room, having a watered down relationship with their friends”
“It’s really interesting to think that people want something more from the object”
12
“I’d pick the coffee, cause I could really do with one right now. Dunno it’s just a kind of routine thing I
think, I guess the way you know, coffee can mark out your day or something, you know, getting up and
having a coffee. Just part of your daily routine.”
“Umm…least comforting?…Time. Never enough time, I’m just always late”
“A bit of cash in your pocket is always comfortable, yeah you know, enough money to buy a cup of
coffee.”
“It’s to do with routine, it’s to do with you kind of…when your days are like you haven’t really got a set
routine, you drink a coffee and it’s got a fixed point”
“It’s like your phone, you know…it’s kind of nice to have your phone, you feel less comfortable when
you haven’t got your phone on you. But it’s not the phone itself, it’s the notion of what the phone does,
what it enables”
“I think we’re kind of [object-placed] but I don’t think that’s new, personally I don’t think that’s new…to
work through objects. I think it’s slightly overstated, today’s reliance on objects, I just think it’s always
been that way. You know, you only have to go to any kind of archaeological collection or something…and
you can kind of see the role that objects have played…the way that actually gave material culture, it’s…you
know, a constant. I’m not of that kind of view that there is this massive contemporary difference.”
“I guess it makes you more mobile of course, you’re kind of constantly able to access stuff…it definitely
changes the way you can behave and the way you behave in society. I mean everything you’ve got there
[on the table] is kind of ‘bought-able’, you’ve not brought in any objects that kind of tie you to be in the
home. You’ve not brought a bed in, for example. Do you know what I mean? I mean a lot of people
might’ve said they’re bed is really comforting, but I mean you haven’t brought one of those in you’ve only
brought in stuff you can carry around. So the selection of objects is already tending towards things where
you’d be able to move around, I mean the batteries…you’ve got power…you’ve brought in batteries, but
still, most people get their power by plugging things into the wall at home…so it’s kind of a difficult one”
“What do you think about the gun?”
“It’s not a real one….um, it just kind of makes me think of America really. Yeah I mean, the things that
you’ve got on the table there, the only thing you can’t carry around with you is the gun…in this country. It
seems slightly alien to me to be honest. We don’t come from a culture where you carry a gun around
with you for comfort, so for me it wouldn’t be comforting you know. I can imagine someone in America,
feeling more comfortable carrying around a hand-gun, like a hand-gun in the glove compartment of their
car, for me, in this culture, it’s not a comforting thing. I don’t think we need it, but if I was to be carrying
one around…I’d be feeling more uncomfortable. For me I feel more likely to come to harm if I was
carrying a gun around than, you know, less likely.”
13
“Why this one?” [hot water bottle]
“um…because it’s physically warm, it’s more about the sensation of being warm …the least comfortable
would probably be the coffee…it kind of reacts badly with me, it over-stimulates me. I guess one overstimulates
me and the other one kind of…soothes.”
“I generally have books…um…whatever I’m kind of looking into at the time. I suppose I sort of consider
myself a bit of a philosopher, so….occasionally I have a text or two, and my little Moleskine. A book that
I might be reading would give me comfort in the way that it makes like I’m more in touch with the world,
or something. Whereas if I just had my hot water bottle after a while I might feel, you know, kind
of…trying to [stave] off the world. You know, just hide away and have my warmth, uhh which might sort
of, in the longer term…I might realise that that’s not very productive. So like, technology and stuff kind of
helps you engage with the world, at the same time, still just warmth is pretty good.
“When I was a kid I always used to have toys with me, whatever my toy was at that time, I always used to
carry it round with me. Wherever I went.”
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