object, n. a thing placed before or apprehended by the senses, something perceived
ecologies, n. relationships between things and their environments
curator, n. one who cares for souls (14th century)
the guardian of a minor or an insane person (15th century)
the keeper of a museum collection (16th century)
one who convenes or brings together objects in a display or exhibition (21st century)

In this website objects collected by Iziko Museums of South Africa and the University of Cape Town, are drawn out of the storeroom and displayed in the digital realm. Each is evidence of cultural mobility and each is curated to expose changing attitudes across time and space. Together this project hopes to be an exercise in the de-categorizing of objects in new ecologies. We thank the Mellon Foundation for their support of our partnership, and the staff of Iziko and the Centre for Curating the Archive.
Object Ecologies is being launched with a trial set of objects in 2018, and both UCT and Iziko Museums of South Africa will be adding further objects to this website in the coming months.