Artist Doug Wilson's Mystery Box

I stumbled upon an interesting concept related to ephemera that I want to share: The artist Doug Wilson has teamed up with the folks at Coudal Partners to offer a limited edition of 15 cigar boxes filled to the brim with all sorts of ephemera. The offer is as part of Coudal's "Swap Meat". For $45, you can buy a wooden box filled with random ephemera. According to the Coudal post:

Remember as a kid when you'd find a box of miscellaneous stuff at your grandparent's house? You didn't know what any of it was and nothing seemed to have any specific connection to your life that you were aware of at the time, but it was still somehow fascinating to sit there and leaf through the yellowed scraps of paper, photographs and clippings from the newspaper. That's a lot like what Douglas Wilson sent us for Swapping.

Not only is this a great example of 'conceptual art', but it is yet another practical illustration of how ephemera is used by artists to create something magical. Check it out. And, if you buy one of Doug's crates, please let me know what you found inside and whether or not it lived up to the hype. I'd love to feature some of the ephemera found inside these boxes in a future post.

[Editor's note: I do not have a business or personal relationship with Doug Wilson or Coudal Partners, and this post is not an endorsement of the product they are selling.]