Monthly Statement:
April 2006
My collaborator sounded upbeat and energized while telling me about a workshop she attended on cluttering. She said she realized the reason that she “tolerates” me is that I’m not judgmental and recognize that among the clutter there are also some really important things.

In April, we returned to work, a little bit at a time, sticking with the schedule even if the days were shorter than in the beginning. New mail would collect on various boxes stacked near the door. We cleaned off and sorted the mail, and also worked at getting rid of the boxes to keep the mail from collecting there again. We made a conscious effort not to simply move the clutter from one place to another so we systematically went through the boxes and made decisions about all of the contents. We donated many things such as mismatched plates and replaced them in the cupboards with a set from the boxes. By the end of the day we had a carload of things to be donated: holiday mugs, vases, plates, etc…

The bottom layer of boxes are left for next time – mostly toiletries that still need to be put away in the hall closet that has yet to be cleaned out. This closet will likely need organizational shelving to make it more functional. There is still a lot of work to be done but at least we were able to break through the stagnation that settled in last month.

Process:
My interest in the accumulation project began with a close individual, an obsessive hoarder, who is emerging from a decade long depression. I am the only other person who has been inside of the apartment since she moved in. The apartment is completely filled, waist-high with accumulation. There are stacks and piles of everything imaginable: unread New York Times newspapers dating back to 1997, hundreds of Penny Saver circulars, yogurt lids, and soda bottle caps. Nothing has been thrown away in years.

There are several pathways to navigate through the clutter in her apartment, though you have to move very carefully so as not to start a landslide. One path goes from the front door to the only empty chair; another goes past the refrigerator to the kitchen sink; one path leads through the hallway into the bedroom to the bed; another forks off to the bathroom. Despite all of the clutter, she is in fact a minimalist at heart, only utilizing the bare minimum in the apartment. I believe she is at point in her life when she can finally let go of all of this accumulation and move on.

Throughout the duration of the accumulation project (one year), I will visit this person in her apartment to help clear out all that she has been accumulating for years. I will collect some of the items we would otherwise discard and save them as documents of her accumulation. I will select things that are most striking by the quantity of the objects or by the nature of the objects themselves and their visual appeal.

As we work together to empty out her space, I will document the changing landscape of her apartment through photographs. The process of sifting through the clutter is like an archeological excavation: the various layers of debris correspond with different times in her past. For the two “accumulation project” exhibitions, I will show both the physical documents of the accumulation as well as the photographs of the process of de-accumulation in the apartment. This project is a social sculpture that involves the interaction between the obsessive collector and myself to create a positive change in her life and in her space through emptying the clutter she’s been accumulating for years.

My project explores the extreme case of accumulation in our disposable, consumerist society. I understand the impulse to save, reuse and recycle - however the rate of consumption of objects of planned obsolescence is significantly faster than the rate of reusing or creative ideas for reuse.