One of the surprising by-products of the public attic / ausgestellter speicher project were the generous gifts I received from the families whose attics I had visited, including a wonderful old handmade dollhouse. I decided to incorporate this dollhouse into a second work about attics and their owners. This time, I followed a very different procedure: I asked people to describe things that they have in storage in their attics, and then I tried to replicate these objects in miniature, without ever having met their owners or seen their attics.
The work took the form of a performance and an installation-in-progress over several days. I worked in the exhibition space itself, and placed the miniature artifacts into the attic of the dollhouse when they were finished.
- SEE the catalogue for this project
- READ essay from the catalogue: Susanne Altmann, “Stimmen aus dem Umzugskarton. Gedanken zum Sich-Einrichten in Wrocław, in Wohnungen und in sich selbst”
As I had previously done in public attic / ausgestellter speicher, I asked the participants to tell me why they have kept the item(s) in storage. To make it easier for them, I provided a list of possible reasons, as well as space for adding new reasons, if necessary. These documents were on display as well.
I performed this piece twice: first in Wrocław, Poland (as part of the exhibition Zamieskanie / Sich Einrichten / Inhabiting and then in Dresden, Germany as part of Ohne uns! Kunst & alternative Kultur in Dresden vor und nach ’89.
MORE about the institutions involved:
