Washing line on wheels

'Honey, do you happen to know where our washing line is?' 'No! You were supposed to bring it, weren't you?' 'Er... well, I'll think of something.' (Picture by Phillip Capper, taken in Oriental Bay, Wellington, New Zealand.)

Improvised dust mask

Why Beatrice Murch put the scarf in front of her mouth? 'Because there was a volcanic eruption where we were staying, in Riobamba, Ecuador', she writes in the comments of her own Flickr page. 'The town was filled with ash and dust.'

Piste mirror

The owner of the glasses (and the nose) is Derk-Jan from Amsterdam. His friend Rémy was allowed to use them as a mirror during a ski trip. So he could give his sensitive lips a fresh dose of lip balm.

Sneaker as pillow

'Picture of me sunbathing at Moorgreen Reservoir', writes Richard Riley from Nottingham, UK, on his Flickr page. 'Check the lipstick lips on my shoulder!'

Pram planter - again!

Yes, the curator knows the Museum already possesses another example of a pram planter. But wow, this one by Shannon Holman from Brooklyn is too pretty not to show you. Hope the plants weren't there yet when there was still a baby inside...

Car fenders

Of course the curator already collected lots of car tires for the Museum (here and here, for example). But this picture was so beautiful, he just could not not publish it. According to photographer finchlake2000 this is a floating camp on the Ouachita River in Louisiana, United States. 'There are no roads to this camp, only access is by water. Notice that the camp is floating on pontoons and Styrofoam.'

Street hockey

Last Sunday Canada won the ice hockey tournament at the Olympics. 'I was in downtown Vancouver after the game', Kelly wrote in an e-mail to the curator, 'and some people started playing street hockey to celebrate. They pulled the free newspaper boxes off the sidewalks for goals. It was a pretty cool atmosphere!'

Unstealable car

The owner of this car in Amsterdam found a nice and cheap solution to protect his car against thieves. The curator wonders if it works. Is driving impossible now, or does the lock only make the ride a bit bumpy? (Thanks Ron Frederick, for taking this picture!)

Cold ashtray

Is there intended use for snow? As long as you don't believe in a God that created everything around us with a purpose, there isn't. So can snow be part of the collection of the Museum of Unintended Use? When it has been used as an ashtray, well, yes. (Picture taken in St. Paul, Minnesota by Thirteen of Clubs.)

Plastic socks

'I couldn't find anything warmer than sandals', writes Leif from Vermont, USA. 'And I couldn't find my socks. So, I thought, why not rubberband newspaper-filled plastic bags to my feet.'

Boatload of beer

'I thought you might enjoy this picture from a friend's wedding on Cape Cod, Massachusets', Chris writes. 'One of their friends hadn't arrived yet, so they called him and said, "You've got to get here, we have a BOATLOAD of beer!" He was surprised to find out that they actually meant it.'

Lipstick art

'This is a drawing that my sister and I drew years ago with my mum's lipstick', writes Adrian Lansdown on his Flickr site. 'To this date she has not cleaned it. Yes my head is that much bigger than my sister's.'

Crazy car jack

To be honest, the curator never changed a flat car tyre in his entire life. But if he would have to do it, he wouldn't use a car jack like this amateur car mechanic in Amsterdam. (Thanks Ron Frederick for sending this in!)

Snow slide

Another snowy example of unintended use, as sent in by Dirk-Jan Cretier from the Netherlands. 'This is a truck from Cretier, the towing company where I work. You can see me at the right side of the truck, operating the platform. It rises about 4 metres, which created a slide of approximately 6,5 metres. We put a bed of snow at the end, for a soft landing.'

Unintended Music Week (11)

Sorry, this was the end of Unintended Music week. Ask the curator and he will call it a great success. There were great pictures and great videos (with this one as the curator's favourite). What did you like best this week? Please let us know in the comments.

Unintended Music Week (10)

'This is dedicated to all fans of Queen', wrote James (aka bd594) on his YouTube channel when posting this video of a very special version of Bohemian Rhapsody. 'No effects and no sampling was used. What you see is what you hear.' He also gave a list of what it is that you hear:

Atari 800xl and Floppy Drive 0$
3.5 Inch Hard Drive 1$
Adaptec 2940UW SCSI Card $5
TI-99/4A and Tape Drive $15
8 Inch Floppy Drive $20
HP ScanJet 3C $25
Eico Oscilloscope $28
1,000,000 Hits on YouTube - Priceless

(Thanks to Jasper (aka Seroendeng) for tipping us.)

Unintended Music Week (9)

Have we got great visitors! Edwin from the Netherlands suggested this video. The accompanying text on Youtube: 'For his installation in The Curve, French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot creates a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other musical instruments. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape.'

Unintended Music Week (8)

Discussion during lunch in the Museum: is not playing an instrument also unintended use of this very instrument? Watch the BBC Symphony Orchestra perform 4'33'', a composition by (again!) composer John Cage, and judge for yourself.

Unintended Music Week (7)

Museum visitor Pedoro suggested this video in the comments earlier this week. What you see is German pianist Tim Ovens preparing a grand piano for John Cage's "Sonatas & Interludes" for prepared piano. The piano strings become prepared with screws, pieces of plastic, rubber and more, to get a percussion-like sound.

Unintended Music Week (6)

'This reminded me of a video I just came across on Youtube, where a jeep was turned into a chorus', wrote Derek in the comments of the first Unintended Music Week post, earlier this week. And wow, does the curator love this! The jeep music was created by Julian Smith. 'The sounds in this video are ACTUAL sounds from the Jeep', he writes on his website. 'Everyone began rehearsing their parts 2 weeks before we shot the video. It took us 7 hours of filming to get a solid take.'