THE PAWN SHOP

The Pawnshop begins with ordinary everyday objects from different areas of life, such as mobility, leisure and social life, that can no longer be used due to ME/CFS. Remaining in their owner’s surroundings, they become recurring reminders of activities and parts of life that are no longer accessible. Selling or giving the objects away would remove these reminders, but would also make their loss permanent.

The Pawnshop translates this dilemma into the logic of pawnbroking: the objects are registered, assigned a monetary value and pledged for a limited period of time. They can disappear from everyday view without being given up.

Central to the work is the possibility of redemption. The objects can be reclaimed and used again. Embedded in this possibility is the hope that what cannot be part of life now may become usable again in the future and thus the hope of recovery.

The objects themselves have little monetary value and would hardly be worth pawning in an actual pawnshop. Subjecting them to a process of valuation and pledging brings different forms of value into relation: economic value, personal value and the value attached to their possible future use.