jay rechsteiner
home artworks statement & cv contact
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The archive of a thousand lives
The archive of a thousand lives is a constantly evolving Wunderkammer of personal objects, owned by my father Franzueli Rechsteiner, who passed away in February 2015. The objects are carefully arranged on a structure made of wood, bricks, boxes and the like. The location is Lugnez in Switzerland.
Rather than having the role of artist in the traditional sense, I act as a curator (in the true sense of the word - from Latin 'curare' which means 'to take care'). At every visit during the course of an as yet unknown length of time, I re-arrange the structure/display, I add, remove or display objects and I clean them if necessary. It is not only a personal dialogue, or an encounter with my father, but it also questions the practice of contemporary art-making (and curating). It is an example of l'art pour l'art - art for the sake of art. It is work in its purest form, work that has at its essence, the work itself.
I started the archive on the 29th of April 2015.
