Object Therapy: creative repair and our attachment to objects
Why do we hold onto objects? How do objects and memories connect? What happens when a treasured object breaks and how can we repair it? Australian Design Centre is pleased to present, Object Therapy, an exhibition and project by Hotel Hotel exploring creative transformation and notions of value and repair, opening Thursday 6 April.
Twenty-nine broken objects sourced from the Canberra community, have been repaired and some completely re-imagined by noted Australian and international designers and artists.
By transforming these loved but broken objects through creative repair, Object Therapy showcases innovative design solutions while exploring the attachments we form with objects. The project encourages us to rethink our habits of material consumption and rethink the role and creative possibilities of repair in society.
Items of furniture, ceramics, household appliances, textiles, jewellery, sentimental objects and even one human were all treated and reimagined giving them new value.
“Object Therapy is rich with stories. The stories of the owners and what the broken objects mean to them; the stories of the designers and their process to repair the objects; and the broader story that is relevant to all of us in terms of how we value objects and how we can live in a better world simply by reusing what we have rather than throwing away and replacing with something new,” said Lisa Cahill, Director ADC.
ADC has planned a series of workshops and events over April, May and June including school holiday workshops, a repair map of Sydney and a ‘Repair Fair’ for members of the public to meet designer/repairers to find out how broken objects can be brought back to life.
Object Therapy is a project by Hotel Hotel. Developed in partnership with UNSW Art & Design and ANU School of Art and Design.
Tour dates:
Australian Design Centre, 6 April – 7 June 2017
Noosa Regional Gallery, 30 November 2017 – 22 January 2018
South Australian School of Art, 13 February – 17 March 2018
Alcoa Mandurah Art Gallery, 4 May – 23 June 2018
Design Tasmania, 7 July – 10 October 2018
Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, 26 October – 2 December 2018
Lismore Regional Gallery, 13 July – 8 September 2019
Tamworth Regional Gallery, 21 September – 27 October 2019
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