Art shaped box

The first time I'd heard about Sonya Gee's inspiring Matchbox Project was at the very first MCA Zine Fair, last year. It was detailed in her cute zine (pocket-friendly and not much bigger than a pack of Redheads) and the idea continues to be as simple as it is small-scale.

Each week, she empties a matchbox, fills it with a mini-gift (a Legoman, baby harmonica, slingshot, toy bowling set, time capsule, stationery, XS-sized zine or other small treat) and leaves it somewhere randomly for a stranger to find. Most of these mini-cartons have been scattered across Sydney, but certain matchboxes end up as long-haul travellers (one even crossed several datelines and emerged in France).

The project is a charming way to remap ordinary footpaths, letterboxes, cafe tables, ATMs and other mundane drop-off points with a touch of micro-magic.



Now, Sonya's matchboxes have landed in the video lounge of the Australian Centre of Photography, and visitors are being asked to despatch the surprises as far as they can (with Sonya mapping where they end up and who finds them). It's all part of a show called 'Acts of Disobedience', which also features Will Coles and Bababa International. The exhibition is about art that's "the new graffiti" or outdoor pieces that are all about creative kindness.



Can you tell me about that very first matchbox that inspired the project?
It was squashed, by the side of the road outside my apartment in Seoul! I think the fact that it was squashed appealed to me – that it was so small and neglected, yet so cute. It had these bright green and blue swirls on it and just looked like a tiny ready-made gift box. The idea just spiraled from there. It was never intended to be a project like it is now; initially, I just used the matchboxes to send super-personal gifts to a small group of my closest friends.

How far/wide have the matchboxes gone since?
Everywhere: from all the train routes I travel and suburbs I've lived, to overseas locations like the Eiffel Tower, the Dorchester Hotel in England (apparently Kate Moss & Co had been there the day earlier!) and Hong Kong. All the overseas ones have been left (and some made) by buddies who've been travelling; I'm really chuffed that in all the excitement, they still have time to leave a box. Strangely, I've never had the courage to leave a box in one of my favourite cafes, even though I only live a few doors down!



Favourite things you have included inside the matchboxes?
I've just made a confetti box that I'm really happy with - because it's colourful and playfully provocative. I like boxes that require some kind of action. There was also this sweetpea box which I loved, it was vulnerable and fragile and required so much care, I ended up leaving it next to a bigger plant so it could look out for it! I also loved the Lego Man (for romantic reasons), the baby harmonica, the itty bitty babushka doll and the knitted Spiderman fingerpuppet.

Best response from a found matchbox so far?
I saw someone open the confetti box with their friends, chuck it in the air and cheer! I think they applauded or maybe I'd like to think they did! That was so nice because, a lot of the time, I wonder if people get the project or think it's silly. And then there was this waitress who found a box in Newtown, she left a comment on my blog and said she'd been having a crap night before she found the box.



Tell me about putting together the Australian Centre of Photography project. Have you had any responses so far?
I'm so stoked to be in the ACP. They've been really excited and supportive about the project, which has been so encouraging. I wanted to do something a little different, I've done a few other shows with the Matchbox Project but I wanted something that was super interactive.

I'd been geeking around at work playing with Google mash-up-maps and tweeting-stacks, so the ACP project asks people to visit the space, take a matchbox and leave it somewhere in their travels. The idea is they then let me know where it's been left and I plot it on a specific Google map, then tweet its location!



So it could potentially work as a massive treasure hunt – it'd be so cool if a box had just been left near you and you got its exact location via Twitter and found it! I get heaps of people saying they'd like to find one, so I thought this would be a fun way to play with that.

There have not been many responses as yet! But I'm hopeful! A friend of mine took about 10 and is planning to ambush a popular coffee joint with them and put one on each table. I just like to see what other people will get up to and how far they can spread in five weeks.

Next up is …
Sustaining the supply of matchboxes at ACP! I went there this afternoon and the gallery's supply was pretty depleted! After that, I am really keen to finish these decorated disposable coffee cups I'm doing for Cafe Giulia in Surry Hills. They're all going to have faces on them! And each day will be a different kind of face. I have about 1600 to go and so as soon as I'm not spending my days off making 100 boxes in one go, I'll be back to that!



To find out more about the Matchbox Project, visit the blog, or head to the Australian Centre of Photography in Paddington NSW, where Sonya will be supplying matchbox gifts for people to distribute (until August 22). She is currently tracking the boxes on a specific Google map and tweeting the whereabouts of each dropped-off surprise.

Lee Tran, deputy chief sub-editor