Thingness Video

THINGNESS IN DOUBT

This interview - a discussion between David Dorenbaumand the artist in the studio – examines the process which evolved during the production of the THINGNESS IN DOUBT project. It is an extensive work, comprising approximately one thousand photographic images, taken in a ritualized process of restructuring the library during 636 consecutive days. It acts as a record of items found in the artist’s library as well as the immediate surroundings.

DAVID DORENBAUM, a psychoanalyst and critic responded to the evolving criteria emerging in the form of a definition of “THINGNESS”, a term set in contrast to the notion of thing, object, item, goods, stuff, debris, refuse, each with their implications manifesting as distinct in terms of a social, art historical, ideological, aesthetic, philosophical, psychoanalytic, political frame of reference.

“THINGNESS IN DOUBT, an accumulation of objects, each inscribed with a history / meaning, as they relate to persons I have interacted with. Often they are a trace of an exchange, an object relevant within a dialogue. They might also be forms found in nature, or recalling an encounter or significant event. Small artworks, remaining ambiguous and indecipherable, not revealing their identity, appear unexpectedly. The definition between artworks and any object remains fragile, tenuous, doubtful. The entire enumeration of “things” could also be seen as a private taxonomy, an individual system of categorization.”
Therese Bolliger