Artists Past & Present:

Karsten Bott, One of Each, 1993, detail, Installation at the Offenes Kulturhaus, Linz, 1993, 10 x 30 m.

Karsten Bott has been collecting artifacts in a private collection  he calls the “Archive of Contemporary History.” His installations are based on selections from this archive, as well as objects he acquires on location. Bott loves collecting, storing, exhibiting, and scientifically classifying objects. How he determines the placement of objects with companion pieces is an intricate process. Bott creates huge computer databases with categorical headings such as: Occupations, Death, Festival/Customs, and Household Pets. A knife could end up in the Death or in the Kitchen category. Bott spends a great amount of time inputting data on each object with links and cross-references. Even though he assigns storage and placement categories, his exhibited items have no labels so that the viewer may freely associate with the objects. He tries to create a link with peoples’ personal histories through his collection.

“I put a structure on the collection of my archive that defines things other than alphabetically, ... I am humanizing these things. It's like a giant polka.”

Karsten Bott, quoted from the Cincinnati Enquirer, Sunday, May 5, 2002

Bott - Artists Who Collect: 2MB PDF

Aesthetic Response Questions for Karsten Bott

1. What might you feel standing on this walkway and viewing the warehouse floor?
2. Where do you think this room might exist in reality if it were not a piece of artwork?
3. What kind of personality traits would one have to have in order to organize all of these objects?
4. Interpret the piece. What is being communicated?
5. What are the implications of this piece on a global scale?