Agency of Material Objects

Agency is a quality associated primarily with humans:  we have intentionality and also the capacity to achieve our intentions. That is, we can act as agents in the world, changing our environment and ourselves.  

From Kerry Moore's sculpture

Recently we began to consider the possibility that objects may have a kind of agency--for example, religious icons, artworks, books, technology etc. And, as it turns out, there are entire academic treatises devoted to such topics from Descartes (and before) to Latour (and beyond).

There is as well the concept of "secondary agency," which exceeds human intentions for an object. So, too, in the realm of material culture, it may be that "human" and "nonhuman" are not easily distinguished from one another--and that humans have interwoven material and nonmaterial dimensions.

Boxes, it seems to me, in their very presence exhibit a kind of agency: acting upon our world in a way that feels separate from their usefulness to humans. They have an inner life (what previously inhabited them; what escaped them) and an outer presence (who possessed them).  In fact, they are part of the very structure of our being.  Boxes have a kind of magic that evokes a response.

These are very uninformed and ill-formed ramblings but perhaps they suggest a direction that could provide a larger framework, a container, for more fully considering the secret and mysterious life of boxes.

Curator of international boxes

Chinese tea box

The color of a woman's heart: ancient Korean wrapping cloth

Book box

Some Boxes I Have Known

My friend Anna has a fascination with boxes, too. (We have a lot in common, including our birthdays.)  In fact some of mine were given to me by her, including a matchbox gift which I have forwarded to another worthy recipient. Here is what she has to say about her random assortment gathered over the years.

This is the inspiration for my recent matchbox gifts. 

My brother made this one for me circa 1974.

This box was given to me by one of my first students at Emory.  inside are iitems from the redwood forest.

My husband gave this one to me for my birthday early on in our relationship.  He packed it in his backpack to give it to me on a camping trip.  Made by two artists in Buffalo, NY, the eyes and mouth move when you pull the drawer open.

This box is so strong it's almost like wood.  It is a box from my parents that continues to store Christmas ornaments.  Could be as early as circa 1949.