Toxic Leftovers of Collecting
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DOI of the original publication
Project type
angewandte Forschung
Project start
11/2021
Project end
06/2022
Project status
abgeschlossen
Project contact
Project manager
Contributors
Description
Abstract
Since the 1990s, collecting practices and associated issues such as contamination and toxicity have increasingly come into focus due to the growing ecological and political relevance of objects and materials. Little epistemic relevance, however, has been attributed to the leftovers: They challenge collecting institutions emerging during transformative processes of differentiation, purification, and reevaluation as well as in transgressions of taxonomic, disciplinary, architectural, and institutional boundaries.
A specific focus on this marginalia is the audiovisual research "Toxic Leftovers of Collecting". It accompanies and analyzes cleaning and transformation processes of contaminated materials. The aim is to give insights into those relational contexts of more-than-human ecologies and their tracings, as well as to planetary conditions regarding toxins ultimately accumulated in landfills.
As a case study the audiovisual research on cleaning processes of asbestos-contaminated vintage cars belonging to the collection of a Swiss foundation outlines the field of tension in which collecting activities are fundamentally situated today, especially in the case of toxicity of collection items: a balancing act between preservation and elimination, between restoration, remediation and disposal. It means a deepened examination of dangers caused by pollutants such as asbestos, arsenic, lindane or heavy metals, which are built into objects due to their properties or were used for conservation purposes.
Created during FHNW affiliation
Yes
Strategic action fields FHNW
Zero Emission
School
Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Basel FHNW
Institute
Institut Experimentelles Design und Medienkulturen
Financed by
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
Project partner
Stiftung für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte SKKG
Bafob
Analysis Lab Bern
Exzellenzcluster Matters of Activity/Forschungsprojekt Object Space Agency, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Bafob
Analysis Lab Bern
Exzellenzcluster Matters of Activity/Forschungsprojekt Object Space Agency, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Contracting authority
SAP reference
Keywords
Audiovisuelle Forschung
Toxine
Asbest
Handling-/Reinigungsprozesse Sammlungsobjekte
Toxine
Asbest
Handling-/Reinigungsprozesse Sammlungsobjekte