Meine Quelle 1 Jan Stradtmann

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Based on the Quelle mail order catalog, a catalog booklet similar in typography and appearance is created. The model for this catalog is the artist with all his belongings. All objects as well as clothing etc., i.e. all existing things owned by the artist, are presented. Each object is accompanied by details of its place of origin, type of acquisition, year of acquisition and purchase price. The objects appear to have acquired individual characteristics through their use, but they are largely mass-produced. Their often unconventional ownership: found, donated, homemade or second-hand, shows a way of life that seems out of date. The catalog also reflects the situation shortly after reunification: Apartments and factories in Leipzig and throughout East Germany were suddenly abandoned or given up. Entire furnishings and fittings were left behind. People were able to assemble their living and working places from these leftovers. In Leipzig alone, 60.000 apartments stood empty. In the 2000s, around 15,000 apartments (slab and old buildings) and hundreds of factory buildings were demolished.

Just as thriftiness, multiple use, repair and storage of every thing that could be of use later on were characteristics of a life in circumstances of scarcity that I was taught by my grandparents and parents (GDR era), it is precisely this way of dealing with material things that will now become necessary again when we are forced to give up the affluent society (represented by the department stores).