Drop Everything and Run
Drop Everything and Run is about separating the personal attachment we have for things we own from the need to maintain them as personal possessions. The idea was conceived roughly one year ago in a realization of personal excess. It questioned the habit of consumption and accumulation as it affects who we are and how we identify ourselves. It forced me to consider that there is a fundamental difference between the physical nature of the possessions we collect and the personal significance we hold in them.
In this web gallery you will find the complete catalog of everything I owned at the inception of this project. These images serve to facilitate memory in the absence of the object itself. You will also find images from the environment they existed in, my home. The vast majority of these things are no longer in my collection, with the end goal of a complete personal material divestment. On September 25th, 2007, this will involve being naked in a room, having taken the last shirt off my back. No material residue of my previous self except that which God gave me. A blank slate into which I will move forward.
And I will run.
Gallery Elements
My Collection Catalog
This is a searchable catalog of everything I had before the zero point. It includes descriptions of the items, such as why I had them, and how much they meant to me. When I started this project, I created three categories for these objects: 1) My Collection: The items I owned. All of these were dropped. 2) My Family's Collection:These were items given to me by my family. You might call them heirlooms. I gave my family the opportunity to recliam these if they wished, otherwise they were also dropped. 3) My Information: Because the goal of this project is focused on the nature of memory versus posession, records of my life have been preserved for posterity. Records must only be worth the information they contain, and have no material value otherwise. I do not have access to any of these once I start running. Click the image to launch.
My Environment
Where and How I used to live with everything. Click the photo to launch.
Photo Documentation of the Gallery Show
You may also access the original statement from the gallery show at the Commonwealth. Click the photo to launch.
Rules for Running
Running is everything after the zero-point; the opportunity to be reborn into this world with a blank slate for self-identity. Proceeding from the zero-point will require the freedom to make decisions without familiar input. I will therefore begin running in a 'radio silent' environment, out of contact with those I know and who know me. This will last as long as I deem necessary.
There will also be a focus on subsistence living; experiencing the world for what it is, and not trying to re-accumulate it for myself. The urge to accumulate is and would be a distraction. The fruits of the experience must be discovered within.
I have not and will not make any committments towards what I will do beyond the zero point. All decisions must come organically, and be considered for their own merits at that time, not because they held merit at one time.
This basic framework can and will be appended, ammended, and otherwise worked with as it benefits the running. Records of these changes will be made whenever possible.