Pocket Archive: Creating an Exhibition for Everyday Archaeology
Summary
Pocket Archive is a 20-minute open toolkit that invites participants to treat their everyday belongings as archaeological artefacts. By emptying items from pockets—or any personal container such as a bag, backpack, or coat—learners re-examine how objects silently record habits, movements, moods, and identity. Through classification, arrangement, and exhibition-style labeling, the toolkit transforms ordinary items into a micro-museum of the self while remaining fully inclusive for users with different clothing styles, abilities, and daily routines.
Concept
Your pocket is a miniature museum of your daily life.
The objects you carry are not random—they are unconscious traces of time, behavior, and identity.
In Pocket Archive, participants act as both archaeologist and curator:
excavating the objects they carry, arranging them as an “exhibition,” and discovering the hidden connection between body, habits, and everyday rituals.
Objectives
Re-examine everyday belongings as “witnesses of time.”
Transform ordinary objects into exhibition texts.
Explore the symbiotic narrative between the body and objects.
Materials
Use any everyday container you carry:
Pockets OR bag OR coat OR wallet
Paper & pen
Phone/camera
A flat surface (table)
Now, let’s get started.
Steps
Step 1: Excavation (2 minutes)
Empty your pocket/bag/coat.
Place all items on the table.
Ask: Where did each object come from? Why is it here today?
Step 2: Categorisation (3 minutes)
Sort your items into groups of your choice:
Function (e.g., tools / identity / comfort)
Emotion (e.g., stress / protection / pleasure)
Frequency (daily / accidental / forgotten)
Step 3: Exhibition Layout (5 minutes)
Arrange your items like a miniature exhibition.
Write a simple label for each item (write only 1–2 lines):
- Date
- Function or event linked to it
- Emotional note (if any)
Take one overall “exhibition photo.”
Step 4: Interpretation (5 minutes)
Reflect using guiding questions:
What category dominates your carrying habits?
What differences exist between items from different containers (pocket vs. bag)?
Which object feels like the “representative symbol” of today? Why?
Stage 5：Find one’s best representative symbol (1 minutes)
Extended Gameplay
Exchange photos of your archive with a friend and write curator statements for each other.
Try Backpack Archive, Coat Archive, Desk Drawer Archive, or Soles Geography.
Reflection
Which item best represents you today?
Does your pocket resemble something? A office, a temple, or a trash can? And how does it relate to personal preferences and occupation?
Can you recall a certain moment of your body through an object?
Pocket Archive: creating an exhibition for everyday archaeology © 2025 by Qifei Jiang is licensed under CC BY 4.0
(https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=560609&picture=paper-background-for-scrapbook)
