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In search of the lost brooch. The brooch "Queen of Hearts/Dame de Cœur" was a key piece in the project Chance Encounters | a Gesture, an Object, a Décor. Then on sunday the 12th of october around 10 in the morning Karin discovered the brooch was gone after wearing it the day before. Although it was a worthless piece in material value, the emotional connection to the piece was priceless. The disbelief of losing the piece made her extremely eager to find it back. After al the brooch was to her like “la madeleine de Proust”. 

By retrieving the steps and actions of saturday the 11th of october 2014 - the day the piece got lost -  she tried to figure out where the piece might be found again. With this information she created a narrative of that particular day
in googlemaps. Questioning al the time whether she was actually still wearing the piece during a certain point in time of that day. Then she shared the story along with a collage that captured her look and the brooch she wore on that particular day via social media, email and spread 
posters along the route of the day that she lost the piece.

This event brought her the first encouter with Le service des objets trouvés in Paris.

« La madelaine de Proust » is a common expression in the French language. It refers to a passage in Marcel Proust’s novel, A la recherche du temps perdu / In Search  of Lost Time. In this passage, the narrator examines the notion of involuntary memory, a conception of human memory in which cues encountered in everyday life, like enjoying a petite madeleine with one’s tea, evoke recollections of the past without any conscious effort on the part of the individual.
« Proustian memory » refers to how powerful unconscious memory can be and how it can resurface in a very strong and irrational way. The passage  goes on to analyze how such memory should enable one to reconnect with one’s youth, to cherish it and the memory of it.

/ A minor act carrying a strong emotional charge

Perdu/Lost ma #broche/my brooch samedi/sat 11 oct à #Paris. Please help me find it! Merci beaucoup! #PerduàParis #♣♥♦♠ 

My beloved jewellery piece called "Queen of Hearts"/"Dame de Cœur"  is a brooch consisting of a suit of cards, clubs ♣, hearts ♥, diamonds ♦ and spades ♠. The original closing broke, so there is a pin glued to the back. It is worth nothing, yet it is one of my most precious pieces. The piece tried to slip away from me earlier last week, but we where reunited. Last saturday 11 oct I lost it for real in the streets of Paris. I'm hoping for a miracle. Please help me find it. Merci beaucoup! https://twitter.com/Broche_Perdu

À la recherche du broche perdu, project, public space, Paris, (FR)

© 2023 by Karin Bartels

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