The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away - Ilya Kabakov

I first heard of this book when I read a short excerpt of it from another book called The Archive. I was fascinated with it from start to finish - the idea of someone being consumed by a concept so overwhelmingly. I was astonished when I stumbled upon the following images of Kabakov's installations which illustrate the text, and to find out that he was actually an artist, rather than an author.

"The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away is an installation by artist Ilya Kabakov which was setup in London between 1985-1988. The artist filled three rooms with garbage, ordinary and discarded items that were collected by the imaginary owner of the apartment. The items were neatly labelled and organized on tables, in cabinets, and on charts that covered the walls. Below eavh item a peice of paper explained its origin.

The work belongs now in the permanent collection of Nasjonalmuseet for Kunst, in Oslo, Norway."

http://the-value-of-garbage.tumblr.com/post/11173987957/the-man-who-never-threw-anything-away-i

Installation, 1985-88. London.

Installation, strung garbage labelled, 2006. MIT Libraries Dome.

Available at Chapters/Indigo. 

It will be mine!

Artist website http://www.ilya-emilia-kabakov.com/

Song Dong - Waste Not

"Beijing-based artist Song Dong (b. 1966) explores notions of transience and impermanence with installations that combine aspects of performance, video, photography, and sculpture. Projects 90, his first solo U.S. museum show, presents his recent work Waste Not. A collaboration first conceived of with the artist's mother, the installation consists of the complete contents of her home, amassed over fifty years during which the Chinese concept of wu jin qi yong, or "waste not", was a prerequisite for survival."

http://moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/961

To view the extraordinary artist book made for this installation, the video of the exhibits construction, or for general information visit http://moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/961