ABSTRACT
This first empirical chapter gets at the heart of the materiality of nothing by focusing on object loss. Examining loss at three different scales – individual, institutional and collective – it illuminates the power and potency that even absent object and materials can have. It considers the loss of items which are typically considered everyday, mundane and insignificant, alongside those which are considered extraordinary, mnemonic things of collective societal significance – such as iconic buildings or items of historical importance. The taken-for-granted nature of objects and materials is revealed, and once they are gone their absence can leave an obvious gap in our lives, haunting us with their absent presence. It considers how loss is dealt with and managed at the different scales using both symbolic and practical approaches – from individuals rationalising loss as meaning that someone else can use the object, to institutions using cataloguing and theft prevention systems to prevent loss, to the collective memorialising of objects as a symbolic means of keeping lost material things and their memories alive. Drawing predominantly on my work on lost property but also my project on rave, this chapter illuminates the importance of our material affinities to lost objects and material things and how we enable them to live on through memories, stories and memorabilia.
