I have a ritual of collecting rocks and other debris from meaningful places as a way of remembering and honoring them. These ephemera contain so much history, often much longer than our lifetimes.

Field Companions are a collection of interactive sculptures that imbue everyday materials with the agency to share their stories. Found stones become chosen representatives of local biomes and specific intersections, emphasizing what researcher Jane Bennett describes as “agential assemblages” of human and nonhuman materialities equally making space. What worlds can we create when collaborating across living forms and once-living materials?

Each found object has had a portion carved out and replaced with a "soul" containing a 1-minute audio memory from its location. Touching your phone to the Companion's soul initiates a web experience with a coordinate-specific animated background that shifts with the audio memory. Every Companion is sourced, carved, molded, and finished by hand and completely unique, featuring a distinct sculptural form and digital soundscape, which can only be accessed by interacting with its physical body.

By adopting a Field Companion, you accept the responsibility to steward the moment they carry.

This first release features 25 stones, split equally among 5 locations: Beacon in New York, Ocean Beach, SF Botanical Garden, Golden Gate Park, and San Francisco's streets. These first editions can be reactivated during future releases which might play with interactions between different companions.

(if you’d like to request a specific stone from the location edition you collect, please email me at objects@spencer.place. Companions will be distributed in numbered order if no preference is specified)

Field Companions, 2024 Limited First Edition of 25 found stones, dyed polyurethane, electronic chips, audio file, location metadata, website Dimensions: fits in the palm of your hand, exact sizes vary Learn more about the project at shrine.computer/companions and on the 2nd Metalabel Digital Residency on instagram (@metalabel__) and about the artist Spencer Chang at spencer.place