Originated and conceived by Danish artist Lars Vilhelmsen, Travellers Secret Box was first set in motion in May of 2004. Lars' continuing investigations into the synthesis of life and art generated a project involving artists from all over Europe, including Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany and now the UK; each in their own way questioning and responding to the invisible divisions which persist between art and the existent, cultural identity and location, cultural practices and custom, and notions of travel.

The project, in the simplest terms, comprised the giving of an object (the 'box') to an artist for a period of time, asking them to consider it, interact with it on some level, and make a response.  Explorations have sought to apprehend and make sense of a tangible, more visible coherence between the everyday, 'existent' and 'art' in terms of things that are not normally perceived as art, but for their context can be seen as such. Using the 'travellers secret box' as the mediating object, the resulting work has been brought to life as a web-based initiative.

Images and text from all contributing artists are represented on the original TSB website.

TSB in the UK
In late Spring of 2005, artist Karen D'Amico was invited to co-ordinate the UK arm of the Travellers Secret Box project. Given the autonomy to select the artists as well as to consider avenues of pursuit that would reach beyond the current, web-based presence, she approached artists whose work she felt connected with the project. This resulted in the formation of a group of artists in the UK who  received the box and made work, as described above.

TSB and the future

TSB has now finished in its original incarnation, evolving instead into the Sandwich Box project, which Lars began in January 2007. The box and its new companion, the lysthus, will continue to remaiin itinerant, of no fixed address, forever travelling from one location to the next, from city to city, country to country, its final destination uncertain and impossible to know.