Monday, May 05, 2008

when I am 60, will I drown in my own 'paper memories' (a.k.a. trash)?

Sometimes I need to tidy up my desk. It's not that hard when it involves filing or throwing away bank statements, articles for the Univ., old meaningless train tickets or shopping lists; but it becomes a gigantic enterprise when it comes to 'meaningful' pieces of paper, 'meaningful' train or museum tickets, notes from beloved people, nice postcards, etc.. I can't throw them away, I just can't do it!

The result is a kinda folder full of stuff that is almost exploding and a couple of drawers or small boxes in the same state. Importantly I've been in Utrecht for little more than 2 and a half years. So just imagine what I left in Rome....

I'd like to 'travel' light. And I'm getting a lot better. I'm learning to let go of objects: "keep the memory, trash the object". Now I can even (often
enough) get rid of useless and barely meaningful stuff like bus tickets, fliers of I-don't-know-what, notes, shopping lists, very crappy drawings I do in pubs (only the very crappy though), etc...

This is what, for example, was on my desk for months (together with a 'happy-new-year" postcard for 2008, in theory for a friend of mine, that I have never sent. NOTE: Bodina, it was for you!! if you want I can still send it now! :) ) and ended up in my 'memories' folder in my closet.

Dance-films flyer, Film festival flyer, film conference, T-shirt LEGO label, a postcard from video-artist U.B.:

Explanation of a cool video installation that was in October/November 07 (?) at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam:A card from my mum and a card from a lovely old lady neighbour in Rome:
This is the final result! My desk is clean and spacious and I'm proud like a baby who pooed for the first time and stares at the product of her effort with infinite self admiration.
[Flowers kindly offered by the sweet other inhabitant of the house :) ]

1 comment:

bellannabel said...

Ha ha! I love it!