Where Forgotten Histories and Limitless Futures Collide

Collections

The diverse and manifold M{ }esum collection include n∅bjects* dating from ancient times to the present day, and beyond, in virtually every category. From missing masterpieces to the unpublished, unfinished and undone.

Our Collection exists in two realms:

The Known Collection

Here dwells everything that we can name or recall. These are the absences that can be traced, mourned, or imagined. Within this realm lies a less fragile subset: The Archive.

The Archive: The Recorded Remnants of the Known. Only what has been written down, recorded, or preserved for posterity can enter.

But not everything in the Known Collection enters the Archive. A lost book title, if never written down, will fade from memory. A personal object, once cherished but never recorded, may disappear entirely. Over time, forgotten n∅bjects slip from the Known into the Unknown.

The Unknown Collection 

Beyond the Known lies this greater collection: what has slipped entirely beyond history and recall. This Unknown Collection contains the erased, the yet unrealized, and the unimagined—memories that vanished without a trace, knowledge buried too deeply to recover, futures extinguished before they could take shape, as well as countless versions of oneself—past and future—and the infinite permutations of one’s own destiny.

N∅bjects manifest in myriad forms:

Some are fully lost:

– A civilization erased from history

– The future self you never became

– A childhood memory that no one else remembers

Some are temporarily missing:

– A misplaced umbrella

– A photograph you can’t find but swear you still own

– A word that’s on the tip of your tongue, just out of reach

Some are not yet realized:

– An idea that has not yet surfaced

– A discovery waiting to be made

– A work of art not yet created

Since absence is their defining feature, it is impossible to measure, display, or fully account for the collection of n∅bjects. Only what is remembered can enter the Known Collection. Only what is written or recorded can enter the Archive. But the Unknown Collection remains vast—holding even that which has never been recorded, never been named, never been known.

The M{ }esum Paradox 

Together, these collections form a paradoxical whole. Since The M{ }esum specializes in absence, its collection is always complete—even when parts are missing. The more is lost, the greater the collection becomes. The more that has yet to be found, the more it expands. The M{ }esum gathers it all. A museum without walls, without limits, and without certainty—existing at the threshold of emergence and disappearance, always on the verge of becoming part of its own collection. 

Unless preserved.