The Thing Quarterly is a project that takes the idea of a regular magazine publication and replaces the magazine with an artist object in order to create different “issues” that are each designed by a different artist or contributor. The purpose of the concept is “to create issues and projects that ask us to rethink our relationship to objects. We believe that objects, with all the magic and stories that they carry, speak to the importance of art in our daily lives.”
Previous objects and projects have included an egg cup, a boomerang, a calendar that includes scheduled artist meetings, and conversation topic napkins. The Thing Quarterly will also be partnering with the SFMoMA upon their reopening this May to provide weekly ‘activation’ of a work with audience participation.
The project challenges Shannon Jackson’s discussion of the limits of an artwork – where does an artwork start and end? In this case, the artworks are interwoven with daily life so that they become a part of meals, recreations and interactions beyond themselves.
We could also discuss the idea of art as a commodity here – each object has a specific function, and is available in multiple (but not unlimited) copies. But what specifically sets them aside from other similar ‘products’ available? Does the artist’s hand in the art work differentiate it from an object of the same function that is for purchase on Amazon or in a store?
See previous products and projects here: http://www.thethingquarterly.com/