Free Consultation was a two week long exhibition of sorts that cross pollinated mine and Maddie Symons’ honours research. Promoting participation from the public, prospective ‘clients’ were asked to book a ‘consultation’ regarding an object they owned that they believed to be broken. The exhibition occupied our collaborative studio space and was designed from repair store typology found in Melbourne.

Consultations were structured as ‘object therapy’ with the aim not to repair the physical object, but to build a conversation around the objects value before and after it breaking. The relationship between subject and object was strengthened through discussion and often a new appreciation for the object resulted.

Through Free Consultation, conversation became the vehicle for exchanging dialogue, by establishing what the research, project and outcome meant to the consultant and client, both parties could relate to one another.