ECONOMIC ABSENCES
Pat WingShan Wong, artist, illustrator, illustration educator; Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University
Ksenia Kopalova, illustrator, illustration educator, researcher; Arts University Bournemouth
How can objects be a documentation of an economic environment? And what happens to them when they are excluded from it?
Pat and Ksenia are exploring the afterlife of mass-produced collectibles - Snoopy toys from 1999 McDonald's Happy Meals. Distributed globally, they attracted collectors who believed in their future value. Today, after 25 years, these once-coveted Snoopy toys are abandoned and sold at much cheaper prices in illegal flea markets, car boot sales, and via online marketplaces for second-hand goods.
In this small, but growing online archive Pat and Ksenia collect these 1999 toys from sellers in Hong Kong, the UK, and Russia, attempting to get a glimpse of the intertwining personal and economic histories around these objects. This archive uses the imperfections of 3d scanning and drawing to highlight the patchy, changing, irregular, disappearing stories behind these objects and their economic environments.
The scan was taken by the owner of the toy, illustrator from London Nick Peill, who also shared the story behind its acquisition: ‘The happy meal toys were bought at Chiswick car boot sale. They were being sold for £1 a piece and I had £2 left to spend. The stall owner kindly let me have 3 for £2 as I couldn’t decide which ones I wanted'.
Texts in the image:
‘Condition: used; Description: 1999; Peanuts Snoopy - 600 roubles; Detailed photos available’; ‘I suggest that you buy a toy and make a scan yourself:)’, ‘It was from a Happy Meal, bought for me at Maccies’, ‘Unfortunately, I would not be willing to share that kind of information’,
‘From 1990 to 2022, the American fast food chain McDonald's operated and franchised McDonald's restaurants in Russia’ (Wikipedia)
