Frank and the Shell on film

Humans make things, and thus the things we make automatically say a lot about us. What if those things could really say something about us and to us? The video at the bottom of this blog shows how Things That Talk shapes that thought into their teaching. It shows the magical moments when it clicks between a student and an object. In this case, there was a moment between Frank van den Boom and a shell.

Details and associations

This shell has played a role in wars – the shell itself will tell you that in a moment. After recounting this history for Frank, we asked him to first set that history aside and name aloud features and the associations it evokes.

First of all, Frank mentions that the shell is heavy, much heavier than you would think if you saw it in a museum display case:"For a shell, this one was actually bulky heavy, about the weight of a brick." Frank wants to hear the sea and then his eye catches the round hole. He feels at it. "It's strange to experience that you notice some things while examining an object, but are not used to attach importance to them." That hole was to blow up. An alarm. Then: the rough limestone exterior, which you would expect from a shell, felt like smooth marble. "A lot becomes smooth if you let it go through your hand long enough."

Then we ask him, "But Frank, what is this object?" Frank doesn't understand the question. We already said it was an alarm. Then the penny drops: "It's a shell... that once belonged to an animal!" Frank marvels: "Funny how quickly you forget that what humans use was once also used by nature in a very different way."

The click

Then Frank turns his attention to the string. From it you can lift the shell. "Is this the string by which a general could hold the shell? The loop seems too big for that. Could he use the string to put the shell around his neck? Hm, the string is too short for that."

We encourage him to lift the shell by the string. Shuddering, Frank follows the instruction, because "I couldn't see how the hundreds of years old rope could hold the weight of a brick." We reassure him: the very fact that it is so old, and was used even in wartime, shows how strong this rope is. Frank picks up the shell on the rope. He imagines all that has depended on that string. Not only the preservation of the shell itself, but also the ability to warn the warriors, to lessen their chances of death. "That string makes the story of the shell that much richer."

And there was the click.