19 Apr 2023  |  Annina Gyger

Objects are beings – A poem

The way I approach my surroundings significantly changed after two years of working theoretically as well as hands-on with objects. The anthropological and pedagogical focus on humans during my bachelor thereby received a third dimension – an object-centered one. A discovery, I further explored in my last blog.

As I have been visiting several museum exhibitions in the past months in Munich, Göttingen, Amsterdam and San Francisco, this newfound material dimension has led me to process my perception lyrically. The outcome beneath is about an experience I repeatedly made when entering a new museum and leaving it somehow changed.^[1]

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Annina Gyger.

Objects are beings^[2]
or: When things teach you mindfulness

Visiting new museums,
yet experiencing familiar sensations.
Plenty to be found, yet somehow feeling lost.

Looking for questions,
eager for answers.
In search of meaning and need of hold.

Strolling through the exhibitions.
Rooms full of objects,
in dialogue with another.^[3]

Then, I find You.

Dwelling in your presence,
I experience steadiness.
You expand my thinking and give me rest.

Through our conversation, I learn:
Not plenitude brings contentment, but depth.
You offer both.

After we met, I leave.
I found what I was looking for:
A hundred stories - in one object.^[4]

 ____________

^[1] Glimpses of concepts that particularly stood out to me during my visits, are referenced with their place of origin.

^[2] Exhibition at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam When Things Are Beings 26.11.2022 – 10.04.2023.

^[3] Exhibition at SFMOMA in San Francisco Conversation Pieces 22.08.2022 – 25.06.2023.

^[4] A thought I was introduced to through the international network 100 Histories of 100 Worlds in 1 Object.