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Anything. Again and again. Everybody collects. Something. and with a long term strategy, other Sometimes consciously a.!.Bel h i r ln g 1 - , h . o r r \ d , e , d ( e l h e L iTe,wilhoand perhaps fore the trash is carriedoutside,it is coLLected is defined Thetrashitselfis madeup of whatever evensofted. of trash the separation and treatedas trash.And this renders (whichis quiteusuaL househoLd) allthe in the average German of household remains moreremarl(able as a refining treatrnent just beforetheir final devaluation as trash.Then there are people knowown morepairsof shoesthan they shoes. lMost appear to be col' regu[arly wearor at leasthaveusefor Those lectionswith no conciousintentionbehindthem. They iust SheLves with music CDs, bool(s or havesomehow accumulated.

the paradoxical that, amongotherthings,they alwaysreflect natureof collecting. Curiously, though artists may sta( out to colLecting lil(eeverybody else,they tend to pay attention the bac<pagesand margins, to what is absurdand neglected Their concernwith the in collecting, saving,and archiving. is the verythingthat perpetuates the irregularities of collecting underlying the assumed artisticreclamation of dubiousness naturalness of collecting.

l.ThreePeradoxes In a way,all collecting can be seenas an ongoing attempt to permarent copewith the factthat time goesby.All reasonably - cof public institutions socialstructures clubs,firms,and

museums, photoaLbums manuscript collections, libraries, reveaLa somewhat moreconsciou5 organization. lect,buildarchives, Suchinstitutionalcollecting is intended stamps, rninelals, pantheons. andthe lii(e. Hobby collectors turntheirattention to vases, pressed porcelain, fLowers, or usedtelephone old postcards, idertity vis-e-vis the permanently changing flux to guarantee pieces the functionof a photoalbumor Rare or strange seemto holda specialattraction of time, and so resembles cards. to say," am the sameperson, even diary, whichis ostersibLy tor them. thougheverything aroundme (asweLl as l, myself) chaiges."l "Tirne is constantly beinglost,"'but Hoderlein says, and categorizing arefun,perhaps evenfundamental. As Stefan ColLecting followmunicipaLtrash sorting In cermany, manymorecitizens the speedlimit rules(andmuchmoreregularly), than observe th w h e nd r i v i n gC . ollectin is ga t s ou b i q u i t o ut s hroughou t ea n are cTeatures who collect. imaI l<ingdom. Beesand squifieLs reflection, the humanview organizes its Priorto all conscious into groups and collects what is scattered field of perception psychology hastaughtus. formations, as Gestdlt or connected collecting can be loosely compared to the ongoing Moreover, is otf o u r n o r m a l w a k i nc go n s c i o u 5 n e C So Sl.l e c t i n g movemen process ofassociation turnedmateria[. the imaginative to the objectonceit is chosen, colBut what exactly happens ls it more stored,deposited, and indexed? lected,packaged, to r n d d o c u m e ntth e irnportan tt o the colLecto r r e m e m b ea past,or to lay in a stocl< for the future?0r is it alwaysabout and art? betweercollecting both?Aid what is the connection
cf. Kdte[leyef Drawe,Mrs.he, Dspelqel 1996,p 146.chr si an rerl4ds./ri"e,, [4un]ch nya c o n v e r s a otn r L a n t a n sp ku i t i t s i m l L a rlL 'ThecL.wnasa Bad I t hD o r l s v o n Dralrten, aLs sclrLechter Predlgef'1, eacher," f'Der Clown : KaiLlwefemken (ed.),6edn.ht isblldef, p . 2 t r ripzlg 1996, tin). ty ftulmory a"s p r o d ! . i v e O n t h e l n r i d e L io 4 eyerDraw 1 9 t 6 ,o p .c t , : . o m p L s l r m e n t s^ e e on rahten 1996p , .2lo. o p .c l t .B o L t a n s k l / v D Mordltr. 5. Theodor!!. Adorno,,4lnrlna ,sannelte S.hriften4,ltankfurL a. to1.198o. 47. NikLas L!hmann,5oziolo9i5.hePelspek /en 5, KonsttuktivistischePe6 pektlven, Ihe p:radoxofthe s l m l a r l yd s s i m l L a r l n )llecting h.o w e v a r ,L s o . o nrf m st h e c u r a l o r s ' eh . cu r i q u e a i mt l r a tt h e r ei s i o a L t r n a t i vT r< f a r t a p p e a Et o r s so f t h e i n d i v i d u a L w oo reprodu.t of rrhreatenedby its crhnoLoglcaL than by its integ|ationlnto a context uch Lss

appropriate or inveft we can <eep,store or retrospectively photographs, documents, and memoTies.l traces,

When our focusturns away from the objectsthat are being to the people who aredoingthe collecting, it becomes collected is not only protective, but apparent that the act of collecting and also also anxious. Thereis concernabout past losses, The systematic accumulation ol about future uncertainties. intended to secure the objectsis, amongotherthings,aLways "subject"in the future symboliccontinuity of the collecting (whether ;t be industrial magnate PeterLudwig collecting att, (iLl. p. 26),or the or artist AndyWafholca\lectingTimeCclpsules The nationof France collecting her heroesin the Panth6on). mirror is alwaysintended to function as a lasting of collection durable the person who builtit, andwho is him - or herself Less BoLtanskiobserves, than his or her chosen mirrot As Christian "we areall preoccupied with our gravestone's history."4

and every What is the difference betweenartisticcotlecting coltecting? Whatgivesartiststhe im' day,official, or scientific pulseto colLect? Theseare some of the questiorsraisedby r o a d d ' e : 'i L e r . w o " lr n D c F D 5 - 0 q A G Fw . 'irh propo\e the natureof which is also, of the paradoxes of collecting, expressed withinthis exhibition. simultaneously, glance mayat tlrstseem, at second However natural collecting engendered by ambiva" it is atso fraughtwith contradictions

Available Materiat, Unavailable tuture collecting canalsobe seenas a defensive actintended to Lessen the fear of the future and to confrontwhat is ur'rpredictable a savings accouft), or as an individual supply(forexample, (atitsextreme,in a greatersocialorganization asan arsenalof afmament). At the same tjme,asanattempt the formof military t o c o n v e r t t i m e i n t o s o m e t h i n g m a-t eir.ie a.l, t o m a ( e a f u t u r e quitesheds collecting never

somehow morecertain withtheaidol And it is preclseLy these contradictions that is perse uncertain Lence and paradox. pfactice. of some kind Whilea conventionalcollection reifiedsupplies whichengage artistic Forthe desire to exchange unavailable of its mythic origin. the subject ol a givercollection itself unfolds, addsto, andcompletes (butterfLies, materialremains an archaic formof barter is reLatively time for available bool<s, documents). artistic collecting Thoseworks of art that are open-ended, less goal oriented. derivetheir powerfrom the fact madeof collected materials asthe ancient custom of appeasing and is thusjustas pLausible of livingrelatives or functional the godsthroughthe sacrifice

to cup collection 0f what use is the impressive cornmodities. Whatdoes into the future? on hertimedjourney crandmother trophies and the civic display case fuLl of championship inand unemployment-ridden medalsmeanto the desolate much. town?APParently, dustriaL by cl'itical driveis not reallyimpressed the coLlecting Because reiflcation the compulsive analyzed W.Adorno Theodor theory. "The its loss: protection against a lailed ofthe exceptiofalas time as fearol loss,of the irretrievable reflects will to possess to its in relation Whatis, is experienced fature of everythlng. it is allthe moreturned Consequently, non-existence. potential entitythat functional rigid and thus into a into possession "5 But possession for anotherequivalent couldbe exchanged the eventhough we might differfrom Adornoby not seeing we haveto acknorledge mythicscopeof suchcomplications, and risk control- a the hard pafadoxof futurecalculations Theory by Systems paradox that even someoneenlightened behad differentiated Luhmann Once Nll<las cannotescape. of natule tween pre modernthreatsimposedby the powers "calculated" that,in concluded risks he and fate from modern posesa succLnct incalculabiLity the long run, such calculated " "Attempts risky 6 In are thernselves a risk to reduce paradox: ac' the futureis mortgaged risksin the future, orderto reduce or not 'ome true can that expectations to specific cording for colthe collector, do not disturb impasses But suchLogical powef Thusthe basic lectinghas a calmingand reconciling canalsobe seen and archiving saving, of coLlecting, activities events'to accioents to unexpected response as a prepared to what has neverbeenseen situations, that createchanged with strangeand unique objectsor before,to encounters is reaccident purpose The singular thosewith no apparent the archive; in the police documented latedto otheraccidents with previous team begscomparison of the outsider success of findingis put into the collection the strange tournaments, in materiaL is turnedlnto teaching freal( the monstlous curios, into is integrated the unexpected collection, an anatomical t h ec o n t i n u u m .

SimilarDissimitaritY coherence' order,boundaries, meaning, introduces Collecting conwithout confused, and is disparate and Ieasoninto what - andyet Thisancient or threatening toursand is contingent access Any Simple is very compLex. forevernew endeavor lt is ambivalent is already to the singleobjectto be collected At the fromdisappearing thussaved and l(ept, chosn, special,

intoa collectlble oreventisturned time,theunusualpiece sarne characteristic unique The rnany. among item, one specimen of is takenawayfromit in the process for whichit is collected of Which posesthe secondpafadox a colLectible becoming

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offecessity without thattheindividualgetsintoagainstor his own volition.The threat of these places like that of a prison andgraveyaTd between labyrifth, a mythotogicalcross The in the subjectbeingturnedinto a storedobject. consists and0brnoment one dropsthe point of view of the collecting

that the unique,singularobject is supposedto expressits lt is uniqueobjects. in relation to other,similarly uniqueness to that reducesevery individual a pafadoxof compromise of one colLection type.And it is sharedas muchby the private (unst-und Wunderkam thimbles, as by the historic thousand men ol diverce objectsculledfrom artificeand nature,and on threeor four that concentrates any largepubliccollection eachartistto be "the contemporary artists,while professing point,the indiartistof our time."At a certain mostsignificant

of the collected the perspective serving subjectand assumes

inherent in all sorting,re- and devaluifg, object, the violence fixing,and defining becomes apparent. how' between subject and object, Thetransition and exchange put oneself of the objects, to derive subjectiv intothe position objects, to ascribe vivid powerand meaning from inanimate moments of to the material: theseafe central newsignificance In an interview Boltansl(i 5uccillctl memories, or documents. with the never ending exthe deepartistic fascination outlined "Theessence ofart is perbetween subject and object: change death, about aboutlifeand,inevitably, hapsthis: the questions Youare a subject you fromsubjectto object. the transition

process. To in the artistic are not just fanciful experiments expression ever, aredeemed to be onlyanother vidualcomponents whichsurround it. ofthose objects "DeepStorage" escape the issueof having cannot The project it is within context. And perhaps within a plausible collective "similarly paradox that one dissimitar" bounds of the the larger whenhisor heIworl< canappreciate whyan artistmightlament of the overall frameworl( by this or that museum, is acquired charobject's singular or obscures a particular whichimperils acter./

objects astraces, physiognomies creative work,especially whenartistscoltect worksof art with individual singular to position

yourhead, and memory- but when I smash haveknowledge

you are a revolting That is reallyone ofthe stranges object. Prolective Dstruction connected to a is closely The paradox of similardissimitarity In destruction. that of protective third paradox of collecting, piece individual the transplantation ofa concrete manycases, meansthat this pieceparttyor completely into a collection (i.e.,its presence in a perishes in favorof its documentability directorof the Roman' Hansgerd Hellenkemper, collection). of this seesa classic example /Vluseum in CoLogne, Germanic frornbelowthe earth's in the retrieval of antiquespecirnens "lt'sthe dilemma that we document of cityarcheology surface. controLled destruction." arescientifically loss.Excavations industrial archiof deserted Eventhoughthe transfolrnation in areas is understandable muSeunrs tecture intotechnologicaL of thesemu change, the creation by strong economic affected tools of the conserved seumscompletes the lossof meaning Temind and spacesin terms of everydayreality.lvluseums
1996p , .251. D nr a h t e n / Boltanski/vo I b l d . ,p . 2 3 3 , e o thers, n, l k e p o s s i b L 9 T hs c a t e g o i z a t i o k o f a r b i t r a r i n e sF so .r fraughtwith s o m ed e g r e e p a ta L m e t a p h o r s one, t h d l vs i o na c c o r d i n g ts o with a divislona.cordiig couLd b contrasted l m e ,s u c l r as m t a p h o rrse L a t l n g tto to those Assmann, , A l e l d a mmory O . n t h i si s s u e s "On tlre lvletaphoE offi'lemory" ( z!r Meta p h o r l k d e r En n e r u n g " ) in 1996, , :l l e m k e n p . 2 8 f i T h ea p p e a r a n .o at historkal ef b i n d l n g was consciousLy avoidedwith categoris respect to recentatlstic positlofs engaging thos e a . l l eo r n e so f t h e s i x t i e s , ln Lasno CLozer, 0Ldenburq gu , otd ro Claes p.261. 1981, l4lestkrrsl,CoLogne totlris refewaL, that Led r1 0n th dveLopnreit seeBeatwyss,rie ryelld/s I5l it: zutAsthetik det hledien,calagne997. und Geschkhte

things...How does this transitionwork, what does it mean

is a subject, and then turnedintoan object?"e whensomeone inhefent in of protective destruction According to the paradox

of the objectintefded or diminishing collecting, the damaging

comeslrom its beingtorn out of its previous to be collected narrowjng loss was ableto reverse this diminishing, Duchamp

agoMalcel use.Thefactthat eightyyears context, its everyday

with his concept ofthe of contextand createnew meanings "Readymade", is a gesture repLete with artistic potentia of collecting. withinthe paradoxes

ll. Four Reatms we can beginto appreciate the ST0RAGE, the works in DEEP

and considerin of collecting Giventhe threefoldparadoxes

fordealingwjth that whathasbeen variety ofartistic strategies of characteristic sorted,or set up to disappeatlt is a comrnon

piled up, documented, accumulated remembered, collected,

is the notionof And how ambivalent Boltansl<i of graveyards.s "museumification" art. While itselfin relation to contempofary mayitselfbe in a nruseum collection the act of beingincLuded aboutit in the feature long awaitedhonor,reading a perhaps sentence. is likean art criticaldeath section in whichnothinggets lost.The deadening Thereis no archive and archiving at somepoint exertis that all collecting suction

that they hardlyflt into theoretica most artisticprocesses artistic ap' the multipteand inherentlycomplexindividual proachesto collecting, accordlng t0 saving,and archiving presen four spatialmetaphors various aspects, the following archive, studio,box,and dataspace.lo thernselves:

Nevertheless, when the attemptis madeto classiry schemes.

but people arecollect-ad. TheArchive/Coltction whennot objects allthe moreobvious are based on a systemhospitals, and monasteries lf barracl(s, sub or voluntarily to whichthe individualtemporarily aticorder prisons represent sortingsystems or graveyards mits himself,

collected hundleds Claes0ldenburg Forhis Mousel\4useum, jetsam of everyday lifeof found items the flotsamand objects.He wrote, and fabricated "l am for an art that em'

t
out on top ... crap& still comes broilsitselfwith the everyday of life itself, I am for an art that takesits form from the Lines and spitsand drips, and accumulates that twistsand extends and is heavyand coarseand blunt and sweetand stupidas n a similarspirit,the youngGerman life itsell I am for...."11 his cLothes since has been collecting artist StefanHoderLein Theyhavejust 19t6 a\ "athet, he has not thrownthem away. As he eventualLy did not want to keep samehow accumulaled. the clothes without doing somethingwith them, he pho them and assembled this "clothingdiary" in the tographed motion. To giveother in continuous form of a slideinstallation Berndand Hilla Becherhave beenphotographing examples: develop familyresem industrialsites that suddenly nameless wherethey reappear as at their fictitious new locale, blances Blaustartswith a waLl. Douglas a photoblockon the museum picture genre, particuLar suchas peoplepartying, and collects fromdifferent of suchscenes vastnumbers of representations fllm stillsas weLl as Dutchgenrepaintings epochs: Hollywood For their installationDetonation and press photographs. Deutschland the collaborative team of PieroSteinleand iulian depicting the detonation Rosenfeldt coLlected film sequences and television of Germanarchitecture culledfrom iirdustrial montages of film clips The carefully choreographed archives. construct that contrasts with the resultin an almostcinematic yon multipledestruction. contentof the films themselves: of KarstenBott'sstudio Jeden Eins shows the instaLlation of everyoban atternpt to collectone representative archive, ject of everyday life. On the floor lie music recordsnext to sets nextto TV guidesnextto video tapes nextto television clothesnext to toys fashionmagazines next to fashionable in hereis represented as free-association nextto....ColLecting materiaLform. Iecol to memory, history, and personal Thematic references of those works and instalLations Lection are characteristic or whosestructure i5 resembLe a collection whose materials The artisticgesture behindsuch similarto that of an archive. enumerate, reveal, works is to hoLd on to, unfold,document, content. or to sort its own material

TheStudio is almost objectsinto archives The artisticimpulseto colLect from artisticactivities whichhave nevercompLetely separate place in the studio,a placeof work and their metaphorical it is transformation. Thestudio is a storagespacein two senses: with arestored.t is a place and rnateriaLs a roomin whichideas go that will perhaps eventually stacks of sl<etches and objects and remnants into a piece.But it is alsoa placewherescraps pile up that haveto be disposed these of as trash.Reconciling Wilhetm/Mundt stopped throwing dualities in the Late 1980s, out his studiotrashand beganturningit into art. Hecarefully

addywerhol, fime Capsulerrj, inatellatlon at the AndyWarhol /tlufrlron,r97o,6ofri: photographs KtausRinke, ll{seum, Fittsbuh

polishes sotoo for otherworks whose it, andthen AsinArtschwager's case, of fiberglass, wraps it withseveral Layers physlcal is the studio: the and symbolic lldshsfore metaphor andsaleof the resulting through the exhibition - its metamorphosisbecomes part andeconomic tion of the obiect feeds hisgarbage back into symbolic sculptures, "recycles" processes overaLlwork by way of of the contentof art. leanne Silverstone also circulation through and pacl(aging. fromthe studio floor sorting, evaluating Shepicksup residue studioleftovers. plaster intominiature these tinydrops of hardened andturns in scale. Her ThcBox fiftytimeslarger models for abstract sculpture, realm oftheboxexpands byway ofDEEP ofgenerative The semantic process, transforms thestudio intoa room inturn, Andy Beuys, PierolManzoni, monastic cell. Finatly, as and worksby Joseph possibility, a latter-day concentration, BoLtanski andThomas Virnich to include interest to Christo, Christian mould is suddenly ofgreater sometimes thenegative cells for positive and batteries or storage sculpture, cases, containers, thanthe originaily conceived thesculptor sculptural, the While the approach here is frequentLy the shipping containers Artschwager hasdeveloped Richard works arethose of packaging, impulses behind these intosculptures. of artworks

TimeCapsulesin lhe Nd ives Study Center,TheAndy Warhol museum, Plttsb{rgh

Rather, theexpansion of instrument. energy body, or asa controllable intosymbolic dematerializing, or transmogrifications into systems are extended memory and structuring to time, human Theconnective thread entails a relationship or charge. might enter extent that technology grasp to thesame because it does notcon- thedata-space obiectively which wecannever is to which ourexistence a thing forusbuta dimension stitute intraces. andwhich wecanonlyimagine subiected, Data Space is the storage, or "data-space" Electromagnetic and digitat inhabits. In datarealm DEEP STORAGE fourthmetaphorical - as an with images artistic concern space, the essential micro-protheses in theshape ofanimplanted thehuman body genetic or as coding.ll
lll. How do Artisls Collect? Artistic collecting and archiving is at flrst sight hardiy distin-

guishable in that the basic fromstampor vasecollecting, - the desire to ownandkeepandto not let go of impulse

- is very which obiects yet visualiy something similar. When we examine absent between what is physicalty oscillation getto we quickly typically turnsto, however, interest present is renewed.l' is notcon- artistic Thefactthatdata-space particular This is where the nature of aftistic collection. Paik, the such as Nam maybe in partwhatledartists crete June in. ofcoltection come Frenkelto address paradoxes Lynn Hershman, andVera George Legrady, generaanddocument, andbody, trace themes such asplace of memory. Trivial/Exceptional of information, andthe [un-)reliability tionor loss ex obiects commonly considered artists do not coLlect in a relatively newfieldof Many artists operate ln digital networks (therare piece is immethat,aspartof a collection, andauthorities, do not ceptiona[ and, unlike companies communication many), buttheycollect as onecase among diately trivialized in a collection. Likeall that becomes exceptional the trivial piece changes the individual artistic collecting digital stolage collecting, nolonger see themachine-based notexist. They "natural" But the change into the collection. its absorption human through opposite to the capacities as an objective predetermined as inuse,but move around follow a certain do for whom traditional boundaries dependent investigators
of naivedichotomies, see p. i1-18. 1996, Dnhtei 1996p , .23o.

Stefa[ Hoder{ein, /oc*e lrie ttose {M6t hing lacket ond Ponls),tgg6, installation al the Wiirtte'l|bergishe. Kunstvereifl, St{ttgart

apparently takesplace in reverse order whenartists collect trivia. Nowtheworthless, unnoticed, piece anything butrare is rendered exceptional. This suggests that, if a paradoxsuch as thatofthesimilarly dissimilaf is hard andrealin conventional collecting, andif it is inevitable, it canbe reversed aswell. In artistic collection, it canbeused backwards, soto speak. Such a realization is genuinely aftistic. lt exists independently play oftheory andistheresult play. of notcasual, butserious The treacherousness of theobject, theunavoidabLe trivialization of theexceptional object asa result of being collected, isnot fought against, but it is instead agreed with.The turnto the trivialand everyday, theennobling oftheworthless, overlooked, and ridiculous aresomeof the mostproductive andconse. quential impulses in artsince the196os upto thepresentday. It began with Rauschenberg, Oldenburg, Beuys and
and continued with Darboven, Boltanski, or Lawler, afd

generation hasledto theyounger of artists likeBott, andl\4undt.


Collecting without Destroying I 'eq-enl y. a't sts colle(. ,orelLirg l-at doFsrot exist as manifestobject or that is immaterial or hard to

Duchamp's P0tision Ai (1919) mightbe considered asa typein thisrespect. Vera Frenkel's work, a website that withthehistory of Hitler's art collection in Linz thatwas realized, bearsthe programmatic tille BodyMissing. lMeg Cranston converts the number of inches of book thata famous name occupies ontheshelves of theUn
of California pillars,a library into diagramatic "fame" abstraction suchas becomes a sculotura[v real that can be measured in cubicinches. Sabine GroB in her archiveof artist typologiesobservedand

quaUtjes ofartists, andvisualizes them asmoving, shapes onthe computer screen. Like anaircraft in space, character construct of "TheSensitive 0nealsoknown as Scientist alsoknown as TheBusy One"glide towards us
o1e colfigurdtion.whp'ea5lhe 5pecies ol tLe atisr.

Romantic Onealsoknown asThePainter alsoknown as Busy One", hasa very different appearance, indeed. practices Insuch we canrecognize a specifically artistic
ment of the paradoxof protective destruction in Theindividual object doesnot have to be damaged or in ofderto be documented in the collection. Butinstead. it comesinto being by virtue of bejng collected. This procedure becomes allthe moreobvious whenephemera

collected andsorted, by wayof intuitions and ute WeiB-Leder photographs hastal(en of tattooed skin combined images these withphotographs of thekitchen person. longing to thetattooed patterns Toher, and forms

xFt:ri riir._ii tjie !\'sie5-Lsd?r, ,ir!.{rrnis .'ir1r:ri!:.. ai!.:{ri!r..,1

relatedor, at times, in distantLy the tattoo seemto reappear

For of irnmediacy. the supposition both renounce collections

on the back-rest this very reasonthe indirect but actual themes of these quite similarpatterns in the kitchenpicture: into focus backallthe moreclear[y are mirrored atmosphere. afiangements ofthe interior ofa chairor in the overallcornplex As difficultas it is to accountfor mere ldeasand intuitions, between the tattoosand the <itchen relationship the assurned by way of her docstri(ingonceit is proved, interiors appears twentyeighttimes. uments, for dealingwith the paradoxof Anotherartistic possibility in nof ta <ing!p the objective protective consists destruction , ot o w i d eo f t h em a r <s nu , tt o a i r n o f t h ec o l l e c t i o b a n dt h e m e then but not the thing itseLf, and mirrorimages, speak. Traces of tracery Hence, the inscribed collection. enterintothe artistic as grease materia15 Such inexpenSive cornmon, Beuys charged poteirtial as if theVwere batteries. or felt matswith symbolic into the Future Looking the wor$ of losephBeuysand AndyWarholare the Perhaps mentioned ol colLecting of the third paradox mostillunrinating of future uncertainty balancing above.i.e., the paradoxical rnaterial. with available awaTeness. throughthe observer's

andstorage mirrors lifebecame of everyday loundpieces contradic- Thus, and inherently callsup a complex HanneDarboven utopias 0n the and creative energies for psychic learning possibilities within writing:[aboriously tory field of associations and automatlc routine text production, how to write,laborious procedure radically laysopenthe intention one hand,Beuys's to animatedead rnatterthroughsubiective note-taking, of all fine artistsr compulsive the quietand orderofwriting, writing, ma, h e s i m p l i c i to yf t h e c h o s e n t h e o t h e rh a n d t m e a n i n g 0 . n in factualabsenceof what is described fear of forgetting, that did not unfoldits the senselessness terialswas part of an artisticstrategy produced throughwriting, words,meaning qualities theirimpressive utopiathroughheightening becomes assertive in writing, Whatwritingis or what happens of writing. Kiefer), but (asseenin the worksof Gerhard or Anselm Richter graphic net of densely Darboven's topic,because the insistent of minor signlfian l ds u d d e n change t h e p a r a d o x i ca text ln Boltans<i's t h r o u g h plates does not reveala conventional in otherwords , Beuys'sartthe i n t oh i g hs i g n i f i c a n c n e. of cance of the dead.but photographs worl(,it is not photographs that ma(e death obituaries, the livingta <enfrom newspaper photo and Boltanski's writingelements Dafboven's so prsent. rcpte llme Cqpsules WarhoL's smallest becomethe biggest. items l-lere, too, everyday yet closecoLrnterpart. senta distinct

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- printedmatterffrar invitations magazines, are assembLed: basl(et Their signifimight have gone into the wastepaper that the objectsd0 not seem cancein this caseis, however, "significance" Least whatsoever' with any additionat endowed of all with utoPian Potentlal. to the sideof the themselves position deliberately Bothartists Theydo not direct to the sideof thatwhichis coltected objects, of a collecowners presenting or poseas proudly the situation, work and in Beuys's tion. The idea of utopiantransforrnation really(andnot simplyas a mental indifference laconic Warhol's ln sucha comeinto the foreground letsthe obiects exercise) a subliminal to the object' fromthe subiect shiftof significance tangibleWe haveto agreewlfil becomes themeof collecting as formsof strategies to both artistic when he refers Boltanski as charging radical with deathand utopia(i e , Beuys's dealing "The and declares: of meaning), renunciation wellasWarhol's that for andWarholisperhaps Beuys between greatdifference
ntanski/von Drahten1996 P 23o.

of wood and claimthat it wasGod's two pjeces couldcombine it.. Warhol well, first of all' he will, and he could beLieve Forhim the wood pieceshimseLf would not have combined nevel his soul him, God did not return,He did not inspire Beuyson the other hand alwaysheld on to the changed... the worldwill idea that the world wilt be saved.ForWarhol, not be saved."14 time and at the same is recognized lf deathof the individual beforces motivating as one of the subliminal acl<nowledged of the character changes this realizatlon hind all coltecting, of conglomeration aboutWarhol's What is stril<ing collecting. andBeuys's boxes' in cardboard colLected banalities everyday could add we highly chargedscraps and remnantsland !'/ith oI dust Elevagede pousslefe'1920' colLection Duchamp's which of that thattheseareassemblages is preciseLy Man Ray), has neitheruse noTvalue,that which is dead and cast-off' against or symbolicremedies Thesehoardsare not material throughthe leftdeath itself,made material death;instead,

Beuys the one God cameback'and for the other He did not

from(vitrine4l Aushwitzffreuz(CrossJ,1957, iosephBeuyE, temorsfrdf d$, 1956-6tt determines the appearuseless, oversand the conventionally do not battle or denydeath aftists anceofthesecollections.The death into tife,and into they integrate in their works,rather, as it may seem the focus of the work of art. As paradoxical the alrangelike the baroquemementonori motifs appear to in Beuys and WarhoL mentsof the deadand useless against the fear of the singlething that is be quite effective more predictable for the future: one'sown death. Certainly funds hoardedby many a effectivethan the considerable intoa deep hirnself of putting old manfor the purpose weaLthy

predictions or gefor demographic amountsof data intended ofsalvation anddoom tltopias, doctrines ideological supplies.

forecast, along with weather or for tomofrow's neticdecoding,

prophecies have been built up [and historico-phiLosophical

assets and digitalstorage fuLlof financiaL used up). Supplies to mediachange our inclination storage and communications

exist today.Will digita capacities beyond aLLimagination

of conclete entitiesand of all The dematerialization collect?

prophesied in media that hasbeenso frequently thingshuman

for per of place,body,and desire the disappearance theory, in any once future medicaL sonalidentity- so far,noneof thesecanbe obseryed freezeafter death and then revitalized nothin practical terms to speak of.15 progress. hoped-for Quite the contrary: hasmadethe suitably technology
bilityof in. andrccosnDa of lrms, authorlties, addresses lntelnet

of collecting, saving to indicate that the hardparadoxes seems saving, and archiving.'6 collecting,

pivateusers pseudonymout in Gernrany, soimportantthat


arc takenagainst legalsteps

trueofdigita material obiects arenot alsoequally of colLectingto make the uncertain, andarchiving Has the old rationale future more certain and to protect oneself unavailabLe knowledge lost of materialand supplies throughavaiLable power close? today, at the millenium's conciliatory its soothing,

interens grabbing'. Outof specuLauve 'domain grabbers' reserue certaln


a t t h eD EN I c( t h e n s t i t u t e ofnamesin Kaisruhe)that allocation

questions. Meanwhil important andopen-ended These remain

innittutions, andpar other relerto aswww.nato.de. such authoities,


oi poweras theorizing Bredekamp\ and Hobbs'stheory to Cybrspace s5 p,a r t i c u L a r l y s i a t e ( L e v i a t h a n , 1 i5 See"Levlathan in this contxt. . P.35. h DieZeit,lanuaty ). 1997

to them:to to worl( on that which is closest unimaginable artistscontinue In thiscentury, thanever? Or is it moreproductive re by continually of collecting respond to the ubiquitousness supplies away, not 0nty havebeentappedor stashed supplies money,and arms, but also the luxurious of raw materials, knowledge, suchas medicine, supplies of an affluentsociety photographicarchives,huge bool<s,texts, inexhaustible franslotedfrom the Gernan by Astrid Bdger c l a i m i n ig t sd u b i o u s n e s s .

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