ILLICIT OBJECTS (INTRO)
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June 30, 2017
Introducing ILLICIT OBJECTS, the third PROJECT:OBJECT volume of 2017!
Beginning tomorrow here at HILOBROW, this series of 25 posts will feature a stellar cast of storytellers sharing 100% true tales of objects that for one reason or another they might be reluctant to display in their living room – but that have a personal value or significance that makes them worth keeping, even if squirreled away.
Perhaps you can imagine what that means: stolen objects; things connected to sex, drugs, or general malfeasance; weapons; hard evidence of unlawful behavior; the gloriously shameful; the exquisitely offensive. The stuff that tells a story that’s perhaps not appropriate for polite company… and is thus totally appropriate for the ILLICIT OBJECTS volume of this project.
We are also excited to announce a brand new element to the PROJECT:OBJECT formula with this volume: ILLICIT OBJECTS will include our first-ever set of audio stories! This is a special collaboration with the fabulous Benjamen Walker, who will feature a set of ILLICIT OBJECT tales on an episode of his justly celebrated podcast, Theory of Everything.
The ILLICIT OBJECTS volume will roll out through the end of September. Here’s the series lineup.
Kio Stark on PEEPSHOW TOKEN | Sari Wilson on TOMBSTONE PARTS | Annalee Newitz on CAR-BOMB REMNANT | Tito Bottitta on MOONINITE DEVICE | Eric Bennett on DIRTY MAGAZINE | Natalie Kestecher on EROTIC RECORDING (audio) | Wayne Chambliss on RADIOACTIVE TRINITITE | Julian Hoeber on PIG HAMMER | Catherine Newman on HOARDED VICODIN | Josh Glenn on JAY-PEE SLUGGER | Nicole Pasulka on SHROOMS (audio) | Paul Lukas on STOLEN CORKSCREW | Shelby El Otmani on OCCULT CANDLE (audio) | Sam Dingman on HACK DOCUMENTS (audio) | Andrew Leland on GUIDE CANE (audio) | Douglas Rushkoff on LEARY’S STASH BOX | Kalila Holt on BURNT UNDERWEAR (audio) | William Gibson on RACIST BOOK | Alison Fensterstock on FUNERAL FLOWER | Julia Barton on PREGNANCY TEST (audio) | Miranda Mellis on GOLD TEETH | Katie Notopoulos on COPULATING PIGS | Ramona Martinez on STOLEN REMNANT (audio) | Wesley Stace on TOM WAITS NOTE | Mike Montiero on BO DEREK CARDS.
Listen to ILLICIT OBJECTS audio stories — plus a Q&A with PROJECT:OBJECT’s Rob Walker — via Benjamen Walker’s terrific THEORY OF EVERYTHING podcast!
One more PROJECT:OBJECT collection — LOST OBJECTS — will follow before the end of 2017. Stay tuned for details on that, and a variety of related attractions, diversions, stunts, and spectacles.
Subscribe to the PROJECT:OBJECT newsletter here.
Thanks, Joe Alterio, for the ILLICIT OBJECTS volume logo. And thanks, SEMIOVOX, for sponsoring PROJECT:OBJECT.
PROJECT:OBJECT is a sequel to the much-discussed quasi-anthropological SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS experiment conducted in 2009–2010 by Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker, culminating in a book lavishly published by Fantagraphics in 2012. PROJECT:OBJECT will publish 100 original nonfiction stories about objects in 2017 — right here on HILOBROW — in quarterly “volumes” inspired by distinct themes. This new endeavor further extends Rob and Josh’s pioneering exploration of narrative, objects, and meaning into the realm of (often unexpected) personal significance.
Thanks to the generosity of our contributors, and to sales of limited-time-only PROJECT:OBJECT objects — including t-shirts, hoodies, totes, notebooks, and other gear at our Threadless shop — at the end of 1Q2017 we donated $500 to to the American Civil Liberties Union! We look forward to doing the same after each of the next three P:O volumes, too.
SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS at HILOBROW: PROJECT:OBJECT homepage | PROJECT:OBJECT newsletter | PROJECT:OBJECT objects (Threadless shop — all profits donated to the ACLU) | POLITICAL OBJECTS series (1Q2017) | TALISMANIC OBJECTS series (2Q2017) | ILLICIT OBJECTS series (3Q2017) | LOST OBJECTS vol. 1 series (4Q2017) | FLAIR series (2Q2018) | FOSSIL series (4Q2018). 12 DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE | 12 MORE DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE | 12 DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE (AGAIN) | ANOTHER 12 DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE . ALSO SEE: SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS website | SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS collection, ed. Rob Walker and Josh Glenn (Fantagraphics, 2012) | TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY, ed. Josh Glenn (Princeton Architectural Press, 2007) | TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY excerpts.
