Jennifer Bornstein, collector

In 1994, Jennifer Bornstein appeared on a local LA cable access program that featured ordinary people and their collections. Bornstein showed off her collection of zip-lock bags, coffee bar merchandise, fast-food containers, potato chips, and breath mints. She had carefully framed and archived all of it.

It would have been funnier if it was a genuine collection, but I think it was actually intended as an artistic statement on how "any worthless mass-market products can be turned into coveted objects via absurd relations and vice versa" (according to Kadist.org). So she was essentially pranking the show.

Although she looks quite young in the pictures, Bornstein was at the time a 24-year-old grad student at UCLA. And she's still an LA-based artist.

You can see read more about this (and see some images) here: Radcliffe, ingrum.org, Moscow Biennale, "Obsession, Compulsion, Collection."
     Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 25, 2017
     Category: Collectors | 1990s





Comments
To be fair, everything can be a genuine collection if you're truly interested in it. I collect tea mugs, and I've used every single one of them at least once.
Posted by Richard Bos on 03/26/17 at 04:40 PM
I know someone who collects used crab trap floats, complete with algae, barnacles, etc. No, he's not a dog, but he is of a different sort.
Posted by Virtual on 03/26/17 at 11:59 PM
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