Herr der Dinge / Masters of Things

I would like to dedicate myself to collections that are not concerned with utility, but to those whose motive is perhaps not obvious and which at first glance may appear to be distant or bizarre.

Of all the motives that move people in their innermost being and make them act, there is hardly one that does not have its origin in collecting. By accumulating and presenting things of the most varied kinds, people gain orientation and not only live out their passion, but also their vanity and their drive for power.

Objects have always been selected and accumulated, whether to use or purely observe, and information has always been collected so that it can be shared or facilitate decision-making. But it is precisely in an age when information is gathered to increase capital that I am spurred on to depart from this trend and turn my attention to collections that seek to represent the supposedly useless.

Regine von Chossy from Munich, for example, collects hair and exhibits it in her own hair museum with dated and signed hair donations. The photographer Karl-Ludwig Lange collects bricks because the stamps on them reveal the local history of his surroundings. The preparator Navena Widulin from Berlin collects gallstones, thus continuing a tradition of the Berlin Medical History Museum of the Charité. It is almost as if the objects in the collections had been collected under the gaze of their masters, as if they were in fact subjects. For if one looks at the pictures through the collector’s eyes and with their innocence, what has just been declared nonsensical, strange, worthless, even disgusting or foolish suddenly becomes clear, familiar, beautiful and fascinating.

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Operating clocks
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Operating clocks

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Operating clocks
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Operating clocks

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Toiletpaper
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Toiletpaper

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Toiletpaper
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Toiletpaper

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Gallstones
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Gallstones

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Gallstones
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Gallstones

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Plastic bags
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Plastic bags

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Plastic bags
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Plastic bags

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Hair
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Hair

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Hair
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Hair

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Hair
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Hair

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Hair
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Hair

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Lipsticks
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Lipsticks

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Lipsticks
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Lipsticks

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Cake server
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Cake server

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Cake server
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Cake server

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Sick matches
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Sick matches

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Sick matches
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Sick matches

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Sick matches
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Sick matches

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Sick matches
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Sick matches

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Sick matches
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Sick matches

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Bricks
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Bricks

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Bricks
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Bricks

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Passport photos
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Passport photos

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Passport photos
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Passport photos

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Teeth
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Teeth

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Teeth
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Teeth

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Molluscs from the Leipzig floodplain forest
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Molluscs from the Leipzig floodplain forest

© Caroline Heinecke - © CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Molluscs from the Leipzig floodplain forest
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© CarolineHeinecke, Masters of Things – Molluscs from the Leipzig floodplain forest

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