Clutter not only makes a mess of your space, but your brain. Nuvance Health reported that “a cluttered area forces your brain to split its attention, making it difficult for your neural networks to focus on one specific thing. Chaos can limit your brain’s ability to process information because your visual system has a limited processing capacity.” They recommend de-cluttering to free up mental bandwidth. That is often easier said than done. So how do we let go of things we have grown attached to?
This is exactly the question asked by an experimental project taking place right now in Kingston. Author Josh Glenn, a recent Kingston transplant, and New Orleans-based journalist, Rob Walker kicked off Give It Up, an experiment that asks its 11 Mid-Hudson Valley participants to each write a short nonfiction narrative to help them get rid of an object that they have been unable to give up for one reason or another. Through September 1st, these objects are on display in venues throughout Kingston, along with the essays. Visitors to the exhibits, and to the project’s website https://giveitupkingston.substack.com/, are invited to submit responses attempting to persuade one or more of the Give It Up participants to give away or otherwise let the objects go.
After spending over a decade studying hundreds of objects and how their owners felt about them, via online story telling experiments, Glenn and Walker decided to create an interactive project in a physical place.
When asked why it is so hard to give up objects Glenn responded, “We are wired to want to tell stories about objects, which makes them meaningful.” He goes on to suggest, “so we want to write the ending to that story before we let it go.” When we have trouble writing that ending we struggle to give it up. The Give It Up experiment is testing the hypothesis that with community giving an object up becomes easier.
The hope is that these stories will then inspire others to give objects away as well. From September 3 to 10, you can visit all of the objects at a group exhibit hosted by Camp Kingston and designed by artist and photographer Bridget Badore. A closing party at Camp Kingston on September 10 will feature readings of the most persuasive responses to the essays. Then, the contributors will—or won’t—say goodbye to their beloved objects.
Do Glenn and Walker think we should all be minimalists? By no means! “At that time, if you were an educated, bourgeois person, you were supposed to not care about things and be anti-materialistic. And we were like, no! We like stuff, we’re interested in stuff, we appreciate how people hang onto objects even though they look ugly and junky, just so long as they have a good story. The culture has caught up with us since then. Meaningful objects are having a moment. You can quote me on that.” Glenn joked.
In an opinion essay titled “Clutter Is Good For You” published in The New York Times a few years ago, Walker explains the upside of hanging onto meaningful stuff. “The objects you already own are much more likely to be interwoven with the people and experiences that give life meaning,” he suggests. “That’s why your weird old clutter is probably more important than whatever It-object innovation you might acquire next.”
It’s true, “stuff” is having a moment. Across Tik Tok, the “messy girl” aesthetic has taken over: intentional clutter that is “messy,” but contained enough to still be classified as chic. Girls Who Cluster, an Instagram account that features images of “clusters” that are posted and submitted by anyone–not just girls–have a whopping 43,000 followers who love the aesthetic of everything that Marie Kondo would tell you to throw out.
Glenn and Walker do have some advice though for people wishing to de-clutter. They note that although they disagree with how extreme Marie Kondo’s method is, “she’s right that some part of the project has to be a ritual.” Glenn notes that he found it helpful to categorize his keepsakes by item type when cleaning out his house to move to Kingston earlier this year. Here is some of the advice they would like to pass along:
Make it fun
Walker suggests challenging yourself. Say goodbye to one object each month. Go to a clothing or object swap to trade something you haven’t used in awhile for something new. Check out the Capital Vintage Fall Clothing Swap at the Senate Garage in Kingston on September 30: “bring what you can and take what you need.”
Categorize
Glenn suggests categorizing your meaningful objects. Do you have a large amount of books that you loved as a teenager? Or rocks from visits to different places? Or birthday cards from family and friends? Maybe just keep a few examples to represent each category, and let the rest go.
Turn it into something new
Kaitlyn Murray, founder of the Hudson Valley Sustainable Fashion Week and sustainable clothing brand La Vie Apres A’mour and storefront Maison Apres in Kington, has advice on giving new life to what you already own. Murray transforms a variety of pre-loved clothes– from men’s button downs to blouses to suits–into chic, timeless pieces. Maison Apres, offers community, embroidery mending monthly, “Often times we have clothes in our closet that we love, but we go to wear it and it’s missing a button, or has a stain, or a hole, but we can’t get rid of it, so we put it back into the closet. These items shouldn’t just be discarded, they deserve to be mended and worn and loved for many years to come. The notion of ‘oh I can just donate it and someone else will love it’ is rarely the case. More often, our donations are ending up on Ghana’s shores and deserts in Chile, and are so overwhelming that they end up having to landfill or burn them. Now is the time to really cherish what we have, mend what is broken, and support brands who are adopting a circular model,” Murray states. For inspiration, check out The Hudson Valley Sustainable Fashion Show at Rose Hill Farm in Red Hook on September 26 to see a variety of upcycled and sustainable looks to encourage you to bring new life to what you already have.
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