Nearly all the items that Freyer put up for sale, except for a half-used bottle of mouthwash, found buyers. And they came from as far afield as Australia and England.

After the auction, he journeyed around the US, visiting the highest bidders, and documented his experience in an online journal, Temporama.

Freyer, who is currently studying for a Master in Fine Arts (Photography) from the University of Iowa, began the experiment to find a wider audience for what he was doing and a "dream to start over". The project he says proves how the Internet allows people to interact with each other, whether they are in a "cornfield or corporate New York".

He is now compiling a book, due in November 2002, which will document all his experiences. Rediff Guide to the Net caught up with the man to find out what's next.

Did you feel a loss of identity after the auction?
No. I thought that I would. I thought that things would change more than they did. But the site is still up and even though I no longer own the items listed, they are still associated with me. So rather than shedding an identity, I am still associated with the one I auctioned off.

We hear you have sold off your false teeth. How do you chew now?
Read the description for the teeth. I have permanent implants now :)

Was there one item you thought no one would buy?
There were things that nobody did buy. Like half a bottle of mouthwash. But other small things were bought. I sold the contents of my medicine cabinet for $75.00 (during the final days when the bidding was a little ridiculous). And half a bottle of Old Spice aftershave, t-shirts and the like.

What do you own these days?
I still own the white Honda Civic that I drove around the country in visiting people (now rusting with 120,000 miles on it), some new clothes that I received from my family for Christmas, and a small pile of junk that didn't make it to the dump last August when my lease was up, and didn't sell at my garage/ yard sale where everything that didn't go on eBay went on sale locally.

Have you thought about auctioning your name off and starting life with a different name?
I've never thought of auctioning off my name. Is it too late? There is another artist who is doing that right now. I just found his site.

What did you expect from this project?
I expected that in the end I would pack up what was left, drop out of school and go someplace else. To New York maybe? The dream to start over. But as the project progressed, I realised that the desire to be somewhere else came from the feeling that the work that I was making in Iowa, was only being seen by my friends and colleagues here.

When items stared to sell around the country and internationally I realised that Web doesn't care where the work is made. I didn't expect things to sell out of the US, or in places like Oklahoma or Wyoming, but things sold in nearly every state in the US including Hawaii and countries like Australia, Japan and England.

What did you learn from it finally?
I learned that it was possible to participate in the broader culture from the middle of a cornfield. After sitting down and reflecting upon nearly every object in my life and my connection to it, I remembered why each of those things were with me. And even though I no longer own them, the act of remembering and documenting them keeps them with me. If a fire burned my house down, would I be able to remember all of the stories that were attached to what burned?

You travelled to meet the highest bidders. Can you share a few memorable experiences?
My travelogue has listed every visit in detail.

I arrived in San Francisco on the night that the US started bombing in Afghanistan and the people I stayed with took me to a giant peace rally.

I visited my salt shaker in Portland Maine.

I sold a tin that I kept on the top of my dresser. It used to hold the stuff that seemed to collect in my pocket. Coins, matchbook, random screws and things. It was the catch-all container for things I didn't know what to do with, but thought I might need. When I visited the new owner in Seattle, I noticed that there was an extra key to my car in the tin. The new owner went out to my locked car, got in and started it up.

You are now writing a book about your travels. Why should we buy it?
The book is not really a travel book, it is a mostly image-based book. It features the history of each item from when I owned it to where it is now, based on my visits and the updates that I have received from the new owners, a sort of "genealogy of objects".

It should be a nice document of how and where the project went from beginning to end. I am designing the book from cover-to-cover, which is pretty unique for a publisher to allow an artist to do.

Do you think the Internet allows average people to gain instant fame through projects like the one you undertook?
I think that the Internet provides a huge audience for all types of projects and ideas. An audience that isn't necessarily steered by large-scale media. Word-of-mouth goes a long way on the Web and can generate enormous interest in an idea before mainstream media even notices. The audience on the Web doesn't necessarily know or care where someone is located. Whether it's in a cornfield or a corporate tower in New York.

What does the Internet mean to you?
As a self-publisher, the Internet is like a printing press without limit. It allows me to share ideas and seek out information and communities. It is a medium that is mutable, reproducible and nonlinear. It allows individuals to draw from resources formerly reserved to the few.

What next?
Finishing the book. Working on a new project that questions the increased corporate underwriting of curatorial institutions, and the effect that such underwriting has on curatorial integrity. Looking for a new "Public/Private Partnership Web Site with the Art for sale at the Lowest Prices Guaranteed!"