
All I Possess - thmpp
https://allipossess.com/
======
ycmbntrthrwaway
Photographing your keys [0] is a bad idea [1].

[0] [https://allipossess.com/products/key-
ring](https://allipossess.com/products/key-ring)

[0]
[https://allipossess.com/products/lock](https://allipossess.com/products/lock)

[0] [https://allipossess.com/products/bend-
key](https://allipossess.com/products/bend-key)

[0] [https://allipossess.com/products/old-
key](https://allipossess.com/products/old-key)

[0] [https://allipossess.com/products/broken-
key](https://allipossess.com/products/broken-key)

[1] [https://hackaday.com/2009/09/22/photographic-key-
duplication...](https://hackaday.com/2009/09/22/photographic-key-duplication/)

[1] [https://keysduplicated.com/](https://keysduplicated.com/)

~~~
DrScump
If somebody copies his keys and takes his stuff, he has less stuff to have to
document, meaning a lot less work. It's secretly _brilliant!_

------
cmyr
Before taking a look at this I would encourage anyone to look into Michael
Landy's Break Down[0][1][2], where the artist first cataloged and then
destroyed everything he owned (except for a pair of overalls) including his
vintage saab and all of his correspondence.

That work at least has the weight of a real gesture. The linked work seems
(generously) fairly banal by comparison.

[0] [https://www.artangel.org.uk/project/break-
down/](https://www.artangel.org.uk/project/break-down/)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Break_Down_(Landy_artwork)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Break_Down_\(Landy_artwork\))

[2] [http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160713-michael-landy-
the-...](http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160713-michael-landy-the-man-who-
destroyed-all-his-belongings)

~~~
synicalx
Why would he have to destroy it all? Couldn't he give it away to someone who
might need it or at least be able to use it? Just seems like a bit of a dick
move all in the name of "art"

------
NickBusey
I was happy to see cleaning supplies, tools, and cooking gadgets. Every time
someone posts one of those 'I only own 12 things' posts, that's the first
thing I think about/look for.

Oh, you just spilled a drink? Better call a cleaning lady because you don't
even own paper towels.

Time to a cook a meal? Nope, can't. Better just eat out instead.

Something is broken? No duct tape, can't go over my 12 item limit, throw out
the broken thing and buy a new one.

It all seems so impractical while also oozing of privilege. Must be nice to
not have to repair anything or ever cook for yourself.

~~~
ycmbntrthrwaway
> It all seems so impractical while also oozing of privilege. Must be nice to
> not have to repair anything or ever cook for yourself.

Actually eating at cafeteria is what least wealthy people, e.g. students, do.
Buying food cooked in batch and sharing instruments is cheaper than
maintaining your own kitchen and possessions.

~~~
Miner49er
I don't think that's true at all. University cafeteria's are very expensive in
my experience (at least in the U.S.).

~~~
ycmbntrthrwaway
The price there just reflects how much students are ready to pay. Cooking is
actually cheaper when done en masse. Just look at how poor countries and army
handles it.

~~~
icebraining
How do poor countries handle it?

~~~
taneq
With multitudinous small unregulated street vendors, mostly.

~~~
synicalx
Great way to squirt liquid from one or both ends of your digestive system.

~~~
taneq
I spent two months in Thailand living off street vendor food and never had any
issues. Then again after a misunderstanding I spent three days drinking the
tap water (which even the locals won't drink) before getting sick, so maybe
I'm just robust.

------
Kluny
I'm interested in the four identical toques in different colors. Minimalism
certainly doesn't seem to be the goal - why are there four? Is it a collection
of designs that have earned their love? Are they really nice toques? Can we
infer something about the owner's gender (probably bald, probably male)? Or
their location (far north?)

How committed to hipsterism is this guy? The "Raw denim jeans" \- 4 pairs in
varying stages of fadedness, but all of them definitely raw denim. Is it the
"Little Prince" theory of how your possessions own you as much as you own them
? Is it a statement that your essence is a gestalt of all the things you own?
There's a collection of wrenches and allen keys, as well as pots of fountain
pen ink. "Hipster" isn't a precise enough term. How hard are you guys relating
to this individual, purely through the stuff he's got? You can see that he
lives in an apartment in a cool city, thinks of himself as practical as well
as aesthete, probably thinks he's a rugged individualist too, but he's put a
lot of effort into fitting in with a very specific demographic.

I don't know. I guess I spent enough time thinking about it that's served it's
purpose as art.

~~~
throwanem
> why are there four?

To coordinate with different outfits? I mean I don't care, I only have the one
unadorned black one, but I can see where someone else might. (I also live in
Baltimore, which is not so very far north. Anywhere temperate, a toque can be
a handy thing to have - although we more often call them knit caps, down here.
Nor am I bald; you don't need a shiny head to need something keeping it warm.)

I don't grasp the intent, either. Perhaps there isn't one. Not long ago I
might've written it off as pure wank, but just lately I've been thinking about
how to compose my own photographs with artistic value, whatever that means -
which makes it a little hard to indulge in the same kind of offhand dismissal
I'd rather not have aimed at me.

~~~
Kluny
Yeah, I wouldn't dismiss it either. It might just be an experiment in
mindfulness - not getting rid of stuff, but just thinking about each thing and
seeing how it influences your life.

------
KON_Air
White things on white background, supported by shopify... sublime.

------
aardvark179
There was a much more extreme work along the same lines by Michael Landy where
he destroyed all his possessions Over a two week period.

------
basseq
Art... or the most meticulous documentation of possessions for renters
insurance coverage?

~~~
Neliquat
Clearly nothing prevents it from being both. That may be how it began.

------
hfsktr
Seeing this I realize I own a lot more than I thought. I also realize there
are several things I would not put publicly on the web.

I don't get art I guess.

~~~
et-al
The execution of this is super weak.

There's nothing about the site that really conveys the magnitude of items
besides page __ of 12, and you can't even browse by category as if it were an
online shopping site, or see original purchase price. He's not utilising the
chosen medium of an online shopping cart, so why even use Shopify in this
case? It's a minimalistic image gallery with captions.

Sometimes the message is bland or the artist does a bad job of communicating
their intentions. And this is one of those situations where I wouldn't fault
the viewer as much as the artist for "not getting it."

------
waiseristy
I don't understand this style of, minimalism? Isn't the point to remove the
power your possessions have over you? Not obsess over minifying the amount of
possessions you own?

~~~
lucideer
I think you're jumping to the conclusion that that's the point. Certainly many
see removing the power possessions have over us as a positive, but art around
this subject could be exploring it from different angles, and I don't see that
stated anywhere in this installation. It could well be a celebration of
consumerism[1], or just an exploration of obsession over possession.

[1] Worth noting, the installation is sponsored by shopify

~~~
waiseristy
That's a fair read of the piece, I think I'm trying to subconsciously shoehorn
my dislike of minimalism into my interpretation.

~~~
throwanem
Curious: Whence comes the dislike?

~~~
waiseristy
I'm a countercultural asshole =\

~~~
throwanem
So you're antiminimalist because Jonathan Ive is pro-? That seems an odd
criterion. What would you do if he changed his style?

------
MrLeap
Bold move showing all his keys like that.

------
justifier
I am all for removing clutter from one's life.. i lived out of a backpack for
more than seven years.. but honestly what I see is a lack of intellectual
curiosity

I have more capacitors I salvaged from street trash than 'all this person
posses'

I see a unfortunate homogeneity of subject matter

There is a wide breadth of cultures and forms of knowledge and expression in
the world

I hope to involve as much of it in my life as possible

~~~
inimino
Does involving that stuff in your life require owning it? You could have a
capacitor junk box at your local hacker space, for example.

~~~
justifier
fair, but if I have a storage unit do I 'possess' those things? If asked would
you tell people you 'have in your life' thousands of books because you have
access to a library in your community

i also think it unnecessary for someone to have access to junked capacitors

it was mentioned in response to the phrasing utilising 'all' which to me
implied a preference for fewer things.. too many things would render the
exercise of documenting it 'all' improbable.. and I was trying to express my
own opinion of content stead numerosity when living in a comfortable yet
clutter free environment

also, i failed to see a bank statement or a pile of cash or stacks of gold
bullion, so this all feels editorialised anyway

~~~
inimino
I was responding primarily to this:

> what I see is a lack of intellectual curiosity

It seems ungenerous to say someone is intellectually uncurious because they
don't express that curiosity by possessing stuff.

> also, i failed to see a bank statement or a pile of cash or stacks of gold
> bullion, so this all feels editorialised anyway

Yes, I didn't see a credit card anywhere. A notable omission, among others.

~~~
justifier
But to say a collection is 'all I possess' and then expect your audience to
come to your work with the knowledge that we all possess intangibles beyond
the scope of the things the artist is saying are the only things the artist
possesses muddles the piece

Perhaps some abstract objects could have been standins for abstract concepts:
this apple represents the love of knowledge I possess; but in their finitude
we'd still have the editorialised issue

It is a stated art installation which to me begs to be discussed and so I was
discussing what thoughts the installation caused me to have through exposure

My opinions apply to this curated list of items stead some ad hominem of the
artist

The items and their aesthetic homogeneity suggests to me a lack of
intellectual curiosity but the artist may yet possess more than what is being
displayed in this installation

------
q_revert
a book, with some strikingly similar ideas:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gospel_According_to_Larry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gospel_According_to_Larry)

~~~
boondaburrah
I was looking for this. I read it over a decade ago in middle school
immediately thought "is this Larry?"

------
jondubois
Wow, I own even less stuff than this guy. When I started being a digital
nomad, I was able to fit all of my worldly possessions in half a suitcase and
one laptop bag...

------
lazyoldsun
Mostly impressed by the Two Meter Long Sweater

------
jeandejean
What about the bank account? I can virtually own nothing if I'm a billionaire
and buy everything I need during the day. It wouldn't mean I own "nothing",
and it would be an environmental nightmare!

------
xkxx
It would be much nicer if everything were on one page instead of 12. Scrolling
down is easy and relaxing, moving your mouse and clicking on the next link
breaks the flow.

------
amelius
It would be nice to see the absolute minimum amount of stuff one would need to
survive in the modern world (reasonably). This seems like a loose upper-bound.

~~~
ouid
It's very unlikely that such a global minimum exists if it is not zero, and it
is probably zero if you consider all of the things which are free, and do not
consider survival skills "stuff"

~~~
amelius
A good way to find out is to put all your stuff in storage boxes, and only
take it out when you absolutely need it.

------
Herodotus38
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't see a computer anywhere. I guess
he has a friend uploading the images or he uses a public computer?

~~~
atomwaffel
You're wrong:
[https://allipossess.com/products/macbook](https://allipossess.com/products/macbook)

He does, however, only seem to possess one pair of boxer shorts.

~~~
kaybe
[https://allipossess.com/products/boxer-shorts-
white](https://allipossess.com/products/boxer-shorts-white)

It says '1 of 10', so presumably they're all the same.

~~~
synicalx
White ones, very brave.

------
morgante
He seems to have a lot more possessions than me.

------
swamp40
Maintenance might be a bit difficult...

