LAURA HEUBERGER
NOVEMBER 2018
PPK
mixed media, dimentions 10x15x20cm
The Personal Preference Kit (PPK) was introduced by NASA to formalise the carrying of mementos by the astronauts on their missions. The total allowed weight of the items was limited and the bulk restricted to what would fit in the small bag provided to contain them. The exact contents of most of the PPKs will always remain unknown, since this was regarded as a private matter for the astronaut.
As sending mass up to space was and still is extremely expensive, astronauts make a very careful choice with the content of their bag. Since whatever items are strictly necessary for survival and well-being are already allowed and accounted for elsewhere, it is interesting to think of what is left. What can you live without, but can’t live without? The objects carried in PPKs are not a necessity but a desire. A surplus by definition, these items potentially bear a powerful narrative to the holder’s values, morals and memories. They are the result of a carefully curated subtraction, and they remain as the desired leftovers. Limiting personal desired items to a maximum volume, weight and dimension requires a very precise, somewhat cynical distillation of affects.