Free, free, set them free!
January 23, 2011 1:09 PM Subscribe
Every day during 2011, Bristol artist Kirsty Hall will go for a walk to release an art jar into the wild for people to find and keep. The jars thus far. Kirsty on twitter.
I once shared a house with a student who drank huge quantities of instant coffee, and was saving the jars 'for recycling'. Shortly after he moved out I found every single kitchen cupboard completely crammed full of empty jars.
I wish he'd put pits of string and paper and the odd word in loopy handwriting in them and left them all over town, because the bottle bank was miles away and I didn't have a car.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:21 PM on January 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
I wish he'd put pits of string and paper and the odd word in loopy handwriting in them and left them all over town, because the bottle bank was miles away and I didn't have a car.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:21 PM on January 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
Wow, if I found one of those jars I would be extremely happy! They're the perfect size for yeast washing, for my homebrew!
That probably isn't what she's going for, but none the less..
posted by paisley henosis at 1:22 PM on January 23, 2011
That probably isn't what she's going for, but none the less..
posted by paisley henosis at 1:22 PM on January 23, 2011
Did Jed the comic a day guy finish his 2010 project?
posted by fixedgear at 1:23 PM on January 23, 2011
posted by fixedgear at 1:23 PM on January 23, 2011
Every time I throw a coke can out my car window, I'll write the word "Art" on it, then it's not littering.
posted by CarlRossi at 1:23 PM on January 23, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by CarlRossi at 1:23 PM on January 23, 2011 [4 favorites]
I get such a kick out of things like this, things turned loose in the wilds; I was into that Bookcrossing thing for a few years, still do 'release' books in the wild but no longer track them, just let them go, just because. It's fun.
I like to set them on shelves in bookstores, too, not that I've done it all that much but I have done it, use my favorite knife and run a slash of ultramarine blue (my favorite) inside the cover before setting them on the shelf, write "Free" on that page also. I like the idea of someone looking for a book and coming across a free copy of it.
If I were to do what she's doing, I'd put a link on the jar somewhere, so that the people could get to the page that their jar is on, see that they are part of a project, make it even more fun for everyone involved.
Anyways, super-cool, thanx for posting.
posted by dancestoblue at 1:24 PM on January 23, 2011 [5 favorites]
I like to set them on shelves in bookstores, too, not that I've done it all that much but I have done it, use my favorite knife and run a slash of ultramarine blue (my favorite) inside the cover before setting them on the shelf, write "Free" on that page also. I like the idea of someone looking for a book and coming across a free copy of it.
If I were to do what she's doing, I'd put a link on the jar somewhere, so that the people could get to the page that their jar is on, see that they are part of a project, make it even more fun for everyone involved.
Anyways, super-cool, thanx for posting.
posted by dancestoblue at 1:24 PM on January 23, 2011 [5 favorites]
There is a link on the side of her project site to register a jar. Not sure if the jars have URLs on them.
Jar status.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:34 PM on January 23, 2011
Jar status.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:34 PM on January 23, 2011
She does have a link to the site on each jar - she says "I’ve got the website on the lid and a polite request that people register their find on the base of the jar".
posted by amethysts at 1:41 PM on January 23, 2011
posted by amethysts at 1:41 PM on January 23, 2011
Where does she get the jars, though? Is she a champion marmalade-eater?
(I did actually RTFA but more in a skimmy fashion, admittedly.)
posted by elizardbits at 1:52 PM on January 23, 2011
(I did actually RTFA but more in a skimmy fashion, admittedly.)
posted by elizardbits at 1:52 PM on January 23, 2011
It's a mad house this modern life
It's a mad house my faithless bride
Art Jaaaaaaarrr!!
Actually, I love this project.
posted by gwint at 1:55 PM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's a mad house my faithless bride
Art Jaaaaaaarrr!!
Actually, I love this project.
posted by gwint at 1:55 PM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
I don't get the snark. These are surprisingly lovely for a one-a-day project, and the people who find them will either treasure them or throw them away (or both, I suppose). It's not like this project subverts the noble purpose of empty jars and/or the corners of park benches; making something out of nothing is half the joy of trash-as-art.
posted by vorfeed at 1:56 PM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by vorfeed at 1:56 PM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
Every day during 2011, I will look at a new artist's "every day during 2011" blog.
posted by salvia at 2:04 PM on January 23, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by salvia at 2:04 PM on January 23, 2011 [3 favorites]
with all due respect to Kirsty Hall, who appears to be a fine art jar maker
posted by salvia at 2:04 PM on January 23, 2011
posted by salvia at 2:04 PM on January 23, 2011
Did Jed the comic a day guy finish his 2010 project?
Yes, he did.
posted by cropshy at 2:07 PM on January 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
Yes, he did.
posted by cropshy at 2:07 PM on January 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
Please don't leave a book labeled Free in a bookstore. Really, it will cause hassles. Don't do it in the library either. coffee shop, maybe?
The idea is kind of good, but I find the execution kind of 'meh.' If I found one of these, I'd probably think it was debris.
posted by theora55 at 2:22 PM on January 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
The idea is kind of good, but I find the execution kind of 'meh.' If I found one of these, I'd probably think it was debris.
posted by theora55 at 2:22 PM on January 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
This is cool, providing she doesn't do it Boston. Jars with unidentified contents appearing all over that place would shut down the entire city for days (for what, the fourth time?) and she'd end up in jail.
OTOH, great exposure.
I wonder if she picked 365 with the internet in mind - getting daily traffic? It seems to me that 52 is a better number, because each jar can be far more intricate and intriguing and different with all the extra hours and resources available for each. As such, I suspect 52 would make a more interesting book at the end of it, too. There is more latitude for not getting behind when dealing with a personal crisis / funeral / etc. The biggest advantage I'm seeing to 365 is that updates are daily.
Or maybe that's just it, maybe she wants to do 365 because it's harder?
posted by -harlequin- at 2:23 PM on January 23, 2011
OTOH, great exposure.
I wonder if she picked 365 with the internet in mind - getting daily traffic? It seems to me that 52 is a better number, because each jar can be far more intricate and intriguing and different with all the extra hours and resources available for each. As such, I suspect 52 would make a more interesting book at the end of it, too. There is more latitude for not getting behind when dealing with a personal crisis / funeral / etc. The biggest advantage I'm seeing to 365 is that updates are daily.
Or maybe that's just it, maybe she wants to do 365 because it's harder?
posted by -harlequin- at 2:23 PM on January 23, 2011
They look rather intentional. I don't know what kind of debris has that much intentional work put into them. Like does someone really say "Well I'm done using this jar full of blue liquid and wire balls, and this box of cigarettes, I guess I'll just chuck them right here cause I'm too lazy to throw them away."
posted by amethysts at 2:27 PM on January 23, 2011
posted by amethysts at 2:27 PM on January 23, 2011
I've been meaning to go on a jar hunt, but haven't really had the time to when I've been in Clifton. It'd be nice to see them spread a little further afield in Bristol.
posted by ursus_comiter at 2:33 PM on January 23, 2011
posted by ursus_comiter at 2:33 PM on January 23, 2011
I'm glad she's releasing those ant jars.
posted by StickyCarpet at 2:53 PM on January 23, 2011
posted by StickyCarpet at 2:53 PM on January 23, 2011
I read that as "ant jar" about 5 times, looked at all the pictures trying to see the ants and was about to google ant jars before I realized they were "art jars." Time to go back to bed.
posted by Ad hominem at 3:26 PM on January 23, 2011
posted by Ad hominem at 3:26 PM on January 23, 2011
Anecdote of the Jar
Wallace Stevens
I placed a jar in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill.
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.
The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.
The jar was round upon the ground
And tall and of a port in air.
It took dominion everywhere.
The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennessee.
posted by chavenet at 3:48 PM on January 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
Wallace Stevens
I placed a jar in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill.
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.
The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.
The jar was round upon the ground
And tall and of a port in air.
It took dominion everywhere.
The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennessee.
posted by chavenet at 3:48 PM on January 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
these are very cool, wished i lived somewhere where i could find one. don't think these are gray and bare like Stevens wrote about, but it's similar in that the art is more significant from the out-of-context locations.
posted by daisystomper at 12:25 AM on January 24, 2011
posted by daisystomper at 12:25 AM on January 24, 2011
I don't get the snark.
Me either. If she were doing some kind of geocache project the same douchebags that are snarking here (and on her site) would be creaming their pants, but the fact that she's doing something they don't think is cool means it's time to be an asshole.
Congratulations, metafilter. You made her cry.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:56 AM on January 24, 2011
Me either. If she were doing some kind of geocache project the same douchebags that are snarking here (and on her site) would be creaming their pants, but the fact that she's doing something they don't think is cool means it's time to be an asshole.
Congratulations, metafilter. You made her cry.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:56 AM on January 24, 2011
Did you know Wallace Stevens was an insurance guy? Visited his grave recently (Hartford, CT); it cries out for an art jar.
These are cool. Alas, there are places where a jar full of mysterious liquid or powder or paper scraps, no matter how evocative, could cause panic. Above aforementioned Boston, for one.
posted by kinnakeet at 8:17 AM on January 24, 2011
These are cool. Alas, there are places where a jar full of mysterious liquid or powder or paper scraps, no matter how evocative, could cause panic. Above aforementioned Boston, for one.
posted by kinnakeet at 8:17 AM on January 24, 2011
insurance guy?
That makes him sound like an enforcer with the mob, or a door-to-door salesman.
WS ended his very long career in the insurance business as a Vice President of the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, which he joined in 1916, after being VP of the NY office of the Equitable Surety Company of St. Louis.
p.s. I'd put an Art Jar on WS' grave.
posted by chavenet at 9:37 AM on January 24, 2011
That makes him sound like an enforcer with the mob, or a door-to-door salesman.
WS ended his very long career in the insurance business as a Vice President of the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, which he joined in 1916, after being VP of the NY office of the Equitable Surety Company of St. Louis.
p.s. I'd put an Art Jar on WS' grave.
posted by chavenet at 9:37 AM on January 24, 2011
I'll be in Hartford this weekend and may just work on my own jar for WS. I certainly spent enough hours parsing his verse in College.
No insult intended re: insurance guy. I always found it interesting that such a potent poet paid his bills through such a prosaic occupation.
posted by kinnakeet at 10:55 AM on January 24, 2011
No insult intended re: insurance guy. I always found it interesting that such a potent poet paid his bills through such a prosaic occupation.
posted by kinnakeet at 10:55 AM on January 24, 2011
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