During the Covid-19 pandemic, a host of everyday objects suddenly became charged with new urgency. Toilet paper became a symbol of public panic, convention centres became hospitals, parks became contested public commodities. Initiated by curator Brendan Cormier in early April 2020, Pandemic Objects was first an editorial project on the Victoria and Albert Museum blog, a way to capture and ‘collect’ these shifts in use and meaning. Published four years on, this book is an edited and curated collection based on the blog. The resulting publication is a considered object in itself, an archive of this extraordinary time and a way to reflect on the seismic shifts and subtle lessons of the pandemic.

9781919624518, 2024
21 × 15cm, illustrated, 360pp, paperback.