We barely notice them, these orphaned objects.
In the street, the gutter, or a dusty corner no one bothers to look.
Worthless, overlooked, too insignificant even to clean up.
Once part of something, broken or torn off, or carelessly lost by its owner.
Or used and heartlessly dumped.Once you stop looking, you’ll find them everywhere.

Reintroduced to the spotlight by TAMTAM’s inventive visual works, these found objects make up a grateful treasure hoard.
Their unimagined talents are on show in short animation films created live on-site, ready to capture the imagination of the audience that brought them in.
It’s where the worthless become worthy.

Artist in residence
As part of their second residency at the Kröller-Müller Museum, TAMTAM created this project in June and July of 2013. The audience was asked to bring in small, insignificant finds, which then starred in short stop-motion animations, created on-site. Check out the Making Of to find out more about the development of this performance

How it works
Findings is a concept that takes found objects, and turns them into animations within a few hours, live and on-site. The project was planned for the museum’s ‘Sweet Summer Nights’ on 13 and 27 July 2013. Audience participation was essential: every visitor brought in an object, or was asked to find one in or around the museum. The resulting animation was shown live during the creation and also broadcast on YouTube, ensuring additional coverage even after the two festival days.

Is it a bird? Is it a play?
This might not be traditional theatre performance, but the interaction with the audience does create a theatrical experience. Visitors are witness to the making of the film, and see it happen right in front of their eyes. The process of handing in the entry ticket and found objects, animating the objects for the camera and the instant results make this an attractive and very watchable experience. During this process, we involve the audience: they’re welcome to ask questions and make suggestions for the story line or even help us animate. We show the animation as it happens, and edit the music as we go. Most visitors keep returning to see the progress.

Look closely
In the same way that museum visitors intently look at a piece of art, Finding invites the audience to look at something insignificant or worthless and discover its worth and talent as actor in the animation. We create images, breathe life into combinations of objects, turning them into real beings or landscapes, ultimately developing an engaging story line.We recommend watching the trailer and all 4 animations from this project to get a feel for how it works.
This project is available for bookings at other museums, galleries, film and theatre festivals and other events.Please get in touch for more information.