Collections and archives as the subject of exhibitions – notes on the meaning of things

Abstract

In the text, I present the theme of collecting as a topic of artistic practice. I assume that the popularity of the discourse dedicated to collections requires that researchers investigate the contemporary status of things. I show three strategies, wchich artists apply to things. These are: density of exhibited items, separation and individualization.
In each of the examples analyzed in the text – in a great project by Robert Kuśmirowski, in the work of Sophie Calle, Bownik’s realization, Andrzej Kramarz’s photographs and even in the strategies of exhibiting at the flea markets, the display of a collection of things becomes a work of art.