A MONUMENT TO THE UNKNOWN OBJECT

Installation view at المتحف/Museet/The Museum/, Malmö Konstmuseum. 2017

A Monument to the Unknown Object [    -2017] Crates; MDF box; Dust collected from the museum’s metal conservation studio, textile collection, handcraft collection, historical objects and archeological conservation studio. Variable dimensions. 2017



A Monument to the Unknown Object [    -2017]

Invited by Malmö Kunstmuseum to develop a project based on its collection, I became interested in the processes that often take place behind the scenes of an institution. Upon learning that objects entering the museum’s collection are vacuumed, I asked the technicians to preserve the dust and other debris resulting from the cleaning process.

Directly extracted from the vacuum, the dust was compacted, framed, and placed inside a box—constructed from old temporary exhibtion walls.

The box serves a dual purpose: it not only contains and stores the dust but also acts as its exhibition device. As if the history of all the objects that have been, or are, part of this collection is contained within it—a monument to the unknown object.