A LONG-TERM PROJECT BY THIS KASSEL-BASED CONCEPTUAL ARTIST

Since 1991, Jürgen O. Olbrich has been checking public paper containers throughout Germany as part of his long-term project PaperPolice in order to save materials, recycle them transmutatively and then use them to supply several museums and private collections. In regular shows and also as part of performances, these artistic results are also distributed to the audience of such events in the form of PaperPolice packages.

From a recent invitation to a performance at Hannover in August 2023

Life is art enough is the artistic order keeper’s way of acting, experimenting with the possibilities offered by found objects and working with changing media. Communication and interaction are an essential part of PaperPolice’s strategic orientation. The found objects are thus saved from oblivion and form an archive of history, information and memory.

Example of collected waste stamped by the PaperPolice being also distributed by mail

 Show & action at “Haus der Kunst”, Munich, 2022, photo: Hubert Kretschmer

From this archive, the rubbish then finds a way into other contexts, but the diverse materials are packaged into handy parcels beforehand, and visitors to public events are explicitly asked to take a parcel home with them, an offer that is gladly accepted by visitors everywhere (wherever they are).

Show & action at “Kasseler Kunstverein”, Kassel, Germany, 2005, photos: Günter Specht

“Artcell” – PaperPolice in action at Vienna, Austria, 2016, photo: Christine Baumann

In public and busy locations, the artist frequently finds material that is potentially dangerous or embarassing for the previous owner, such as bank account information or even personal pornography. So the complete project has not only environmental aspects by recycling but is also a huge fascinating information store of another kind.

Another example of collected waste stamped by the PaperPolice

It takes a certain creative obsession to pursue this fascinating waste project over decades and also to keep refining it. So it will be astonishing to see where the PaperPolice will appear next in Germany or elsewhere.

 

Website of Jürgen O. Olbrich:     https://no-institute.com/

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Wege in meine Stadt 3 # Jürgen O. Olbrich # 2008