Collecting

Curating objects: artist as collector

This part will be based on the analogy that the artwork in itself is a curation. Whether it is an installation, a painting, a video, or presented in any other medium, the artwork is a merging of separate, usually juxtaposed parts. Therefore, with each artwork, the artist collects and curates. The artwork is a micro collection in itself. These ‘collected’ parts are abstract; as in they are ideas, or fragments of ideas. However they present themselves as images, depictions or found objects. Artists, especially those working with found objects are fervent collectors.

Collecting personal objects

Objects acquire personal meaning arbitrarily and over time. Not everything monetarily valuable or aesthetic turns into an object of personal meaning. On the contrary, these kinds of objects are harder to become personal because of their inaccessibility. Their collectively accepted value puts them on a figurative pedestal. The monetary value cannot be disregarded and affects the personal and emotional value that the object may hold. For example, generally speaking, a family heirloom china set is not something you use all the time, or take out of its display case often to look at or hold in your hand. The most simple items can have more personal connections with their owner; simply because they are more involved in the daily life of a person and because they are only important to that one person in a unique way.

The artist may also collect personal objects for a fictive character, in which case the collecting is a conscious act; but still contains a personal approach. The fictive character is imagined by the artist to its smallest, most mundane details. Collecting for a fictive narrative is based on intuition but also requires informed choices. The objects need to be plausible as personal souvenirs. If the artwork has multiple found objects, they need to be coherent within themselves and the narrative. Orhan Pamuk’s museum, the Museum of Innocence, is a successful example of this curation of found personal objects. Each display case is an artwork, meticulously curated under a theme. As a whole, each display case is also consistent with each other, linked with a timeline. The objects are collected from thrift stores and were once the personal items of many different people, but together they tell the story of one individual.

Museum of Innocence

Collecting for inspiration

Found objects are not only significant once incorporated into artwork; but also as sources of inspiration for the artist. The objects the artist is surrounded by or exposed to are just as decisive in the creation process as the books he/she reads or events that happen around him/her. An exhibition at the Barbican Gallery during February-May 2015 entitled Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector was dedicated precisely to this interaction between the artist and the object. The personal collections of 14 artists including Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst were displayed in separate installations. For the viewer, this is an extremely insightful experience because these collected objects are almost always directly or indirectly responsible for the shaping of the artwork. These installations of the artists’ collections are reminiscent of curiosity cabinets in their eccentricity and seemingly random connections.

Hanne Darboven's collection, courtesy the Barbican, photo by Rainer Bollinger