Museum Monday: This has nothing to do with anything…

I responded to a prompt from Brenda Seigelman yesterday – simply – ‘tell me your stories’, it sparked these thoughts, thank you Brenda.  

My Grandad used to have a bird bath in the back garden, made out of concrete, with the words ‘drink little birdie drink, drink, drink!’ around the lip of it. (A mantra I took for my own throughout my crazy drinking years) In some kind of not-midlife not-crisis? I did a crazy thing and bought a bird bath, then splashed out (literally) and added a solar powered fountain to the package. Now, I sit and watch the birds.

What are you doing Martin?

I’m watching the birds.

Are you busy?

Yes.

I’ve been tending the garden this year more than others and the bird bath actually gets me to just sit. In a self-employed entrepreneurial world, it is very difficult to just sit. I’m sure that resonates with a few reading this. In a world of toxic time crunch over-commitment I think I now have to schedule ‘sitting in the garden watching the birds’, I’m going to have to set an alarm so I don’t stay in the garden too long …..but it is going to happen.

Then, my wife bought me a bird feeder for my birthday. Just a simple one with a clear plastic drain pipe type thing with a roof to make it slippy for the squirrels. It took a few hours for the birds to realize it was there – slowly at first then a swarm. The birds who couldn’t be part of the 6 or 7 eating and perching on the rail, were close by, Hitchcock-like and growing in number and agitation by the minute. After a while I left to do some things up at the museum and came back a few hours later. Food: Gone, empty. Bird shit all over the black outside couch. Oh no we don’t.  Looks like an Amazon subscription just to keep this thing filled up. Pounds and pounds of birdseed each week? …..F F S

This has nothing to do with anything.

I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but, there are better bird feeders – seems like that with everything these days: anything you are interested in, there are several escalating versions of things you didn’t know you needed. By tomorrow? A bird feeder with an attached web cam that pings you when there’s a bird, identifies it too probably, so you don’t have to go out-side anymore – you don’t even have to wait patiently and pay attention – you can just subscribe to your bird feeder updates and scroll though until you’re up to date and informed ‘you are up to date.’ The solar powered smart bird feeder is not even the most expensive at $429 and even says ‘brings your backyard wildlife up close – without having to step outside!’

Then, after a terrific zoom call with our museum founders the other night (Founders Meet Founders), it hit me!

For anyone that’s donated a significant piece to the museum – how COOL would it be for me to install ‘smart bird feeder/museum exhibit cams’ where donors and founders can be alerted when someone is looking at their contribution? Does this exist? Well, its GONNA. I’m just wondering if it already does?

Suddenly the bird feeder and museum exhibit curatorcam™ which I just made up are solving the same problem: you can’t always be there when something you care about is encountered. Someone lived it, saved it, gave it to us, somebody else discovers it — and the person who started that chain gets to share in the moment. Apparently, there’s a word for this idea of two unrelated areas/ideas colliding to create something new —museum problems you didn’t know existed solved at the garden center.  Bisociation, or cross-domain analogical transfer?

Well, ok.

Let’s stop being so worried about everything making rational sense? (not you – me!) Jump in, do the thing – do the other unrelated thing, because it isn’t! Block off time in your schedule for ‘thing that doesn’t make sense and isn’t connected to anything.’ It is.

Chill out and as always……

#Beasniceasyoupossiblyfuckingcan

Martin Atkins
Chicago ILLANNOYS

 

Our shirts seem to pop up in the wildest places! Where have you seen us represented? Let us know! It’s wild to see so many shirts over the years go from printed at Invisible to ending up all over the place. Screen printing has been such a big part of what we do – from band shirts to concert posters, even the sheets and curtains in the apartment above the museum – all printed here. It’s like this DIY-autotrophic-fuel for all the amazing things we have been up to here at the museum.