Inventory

Eröffnung: Friday, 24 April, 1998, 7pm
Von 25.04.1998 bis 30.05.1998
Öffnungszeiten: Monday-Friday 3-7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.


 

Of the Second Case, Of the Possessive, Of the Dative

I imagine it this way: I go from door to door and ring the doorbell. Am I a travelling salesman? No, but no travelling salesman says I am a travelling salesman. I also do not say that I am an artist. No travelling salesman and no artist introduces himself as a travelling saleman or an artist. I just wear out my feet and my feet wear out my shoes, and thats how you make the rounds. I ring and ring the doorbells. The people who open up the door now and then don’t really want me to set foot in their private homes. And any stranger would come up against this same defense against travelling salesmen of any kind. Every now and then, however, people do open up their doors. And it is true: we don’t know each other and - in contrast to them - I must introduce myself. When I open up my black bag, however, during the course of my introduction, I feel much more like a burglar than a travelling salesman. My camera lies in the bag’s darkness, and at first sight might appear to be an an automatic weapon. And so I don’t open the bag (at first), I don’t show the camera, don’t even take it out.

(At first) I simply ask about a poll. Age and sex. Opinions, not knowledge, are what count. I ask how they arrange their private space, and how they arrange themselves within it, and so on. All of this takes place in front of the door, as a pre-phase for a socio-graphic cross-section of Lehen. I absorb everything and try to visualize their photographs. In the end, I ask would you be willing - by arrangement and at a later date - to take twelve photographs of your choice in your apartment. Any photographs, or you should imagine yourself showing something to somebody you don’t know. I would stay outside the door and give you, for a moment, the Galerie Fotohof’s camera. No, the photographs, your views, the furnishings and your household would remain anonymous and nothing about you would be made public. Except for the photographs, a few numbers and the titles you would give me of your pictures (views, objects, etc.). Your names will be replaced by your anonymous photographs. Yes, a book will be printed, but every form of publication will be discussed with you (as part of our arrangement). I would record your refusal. But if you agree, you yourself would take the photgraphic inventory of your furnishings from your various perspectives. It’s called stocktaking. The list of all and everything (pictures, views, objects, etc.) which is in stock is called inventory....

"Inventory" is the Public-Space project of Austrian Artist Gerhard Spring. He asks people living in Lehen, a part of Salzburg, to document their appartments. The exhibition at the gallery consists of small colour prints attached to the wall, he succesessively expands the exhibition throughout the next month with new photographic documents.

Futher information on the project of Gerhard Spring and his biography can be viewed at the Public Space Homepage: www.public-space.at/