People crave simplicity and stability, but the world doesn't cooperate. Our stories try to pin things down for us, but we have to eye them critically. New meanings are being made every day. 

NY Times: Opportunity on Madison, 2011-Jul-29, by Holland Cotter

…objects do move. They aren’t static. They never rest. Physically they’re changing, degrading, all the time. Their histories are dynamic.

Under close, patient, repeated questioning by curators and conservators they unfold their stories. They reveal who made them, when, where, how, why. Curators ask certain kinds of questions, conservators other kinds. And they have to keep asking because as the objects perpetually change, so does knowledge and a sense of what matters. No case is ever closed.