Technology
I have collected a variety of hooks. They are archaic, practical, fantastical, familiar and uncommon. They share a name but each is unique to its own task, each an artifact of a particular technology, time and place. Some are hooks that you will recognize because you might have used them or you might have been told about them, but others may seem strange.
It is through telling that technology is shared. Technology is a way of doing and it usually has two parts: a tool, and the knowledge of how to use the tool. Knowledge is written in our memories and is shared in the form of stories; every set of instructions is a simple story telling the beginning, middle and end of how to use something. The story is what links an object to its purpose and makes the technology complete.
We know the stories of so many objects so well that we have almost forgotten to notice the object itself. Only when we encounter something strange that doesn’t quite fit the stories we know are we forced to pause and consider an object carefully. Distance in time and space makes a technology strange, because it is out of historical or cultural context. By placing these hooks into a gallery they are doubly separated from their context by distance and time and their context is lost.
I offer these hooks and their stories, both real and imaginary, side by side. While you try to determine fact from fantasy, I hope you enjoy the absurdity and logic in each. I also hope that seeing the strangeness in hooks you already know will freshen their stories and make the imaginary hooks seem plausible.
Joshua Doherty was born on a large island not too far from here and where he hopes to return some day. In the meantime he is busy making interesting things with interesting people in Vancouver BC. Joshua likes things that are worth fixing and things that get better the older they are.
Postman's Hook England c. 1880 C.E.
Cat Rescue Hook Sweden, c. 2010 C.E.
French Windmill Sail Lacing Hook Vallée Perdue, France, c. 1925 C.E.
Dental Picks England, c. 1940 C.E.
Crochet Hooks China, c. 2010 C.E.
Naida Hook Money Mediterranean, c. 700 C.E.
Fish Hooks Norway, c. 2010 C.E.
Bat Hooks Fazer Crer Islands, Sounth Pacific, c. 1970 C.E.
Crane Operator's Lunch Hook Canada, c. 2010 C.E.
Grab Hook, Sling Hook, China, c. 2010 C.E.
Bakery Hook Weismachen, Germany, c. 1911 C.E.
Joshua Doherty