Yard Sales: A Book and an Exhibition: From Selling Off Objects to Redeeming Memory

Abstract

The fate of everyday objects, when they reach the end of their lives — worn out, and sometimes even broken — varies a great deal. In some cases, their remains are exhibited in museums as instances of our heritage; in others, they end up in garages and attics, or are simply disposed of. This paper focuses on the social operations surrounding the redefinition of their status as second-hand objects. We pay special attention to what happens when they are requalified as objects of memory in yard sales. Over the past thirty years, such markets — where personal stories change hands — have become favoured destinations for Sunday outings in France. They are open-air museums, where new memories are cobbled together from old objects. We attempt to show what is at stake in these transactions and transitions through a presentation of a book and an exhibition (2011-2012) devoted to French yard sales.