By Vladimir Arkhipov. Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell. Foreword by Jeremy Deller.
For this enchanting sequel to the critically acclaimed Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts (2006), Russian artist Vladimir Arkhipov has travelled across Europe to further his collection. The objects he has found are made by everyday people inspired to create something themselves, rather than buying manufactured goods. Many have been made in pursuit of a hobby, or because the maker had the time and inclination to construct something personal. In other cases, the objects are more vital to the maker’s livelihood. Arkhipov’s archive includes hundreds of objects created with idiosyncratic functional qualities: an Austrian ski-bob made using an old bicycle frame; a metal strip full of spikes used to deter pigeons from landing on window ledges; a beautifully painted rocking-motorbike for children; and a device from Germany that enables a musician to play three brass tubas at once. This volume features 230 individual artifacts from Albania, Austria, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine and Wales, each of which is accompanied by a photograph of the creator, their story of how the object came about, its function and the materials used to create it. With a foreword by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, Home-Made Europe is an essential companion to the first volume, expanding its theme with more recent objects that suggest that the charm of the home-made utilitarian object transcends even the dictates of necessity.
Featured image, a step made of wood, wire and screws by Mr. Kajbr, Czech Republic, 1995, is reproduced from Home-Made Europe.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Wallpaper*
Editors
Home-made Europe, by Vladimir Arkhipov, is a humble tribute to home-spun DIY. The Russian artist criss-crossed Europe to find ordinary people who have addressed their household needs with extraordinary inventions, often involving bits of other household objects.
The Guardian
Justin McGuirk
The objects we buy are supposed to tell us something about who we are. But they don't tell us half as much as the objects we make, as even a quick flick through Home-Made Europe: Contemporary Folk Artifacts reveals. Here are everyday things people have fashioned with their own hands. Heaters, hammers, anchors, rat-traps, barbecues, showers and goalposts. They range from the pitiful – a child's grill for corn on the cob, rigged out of wires bent over tea lights – to the technically impressive – one man made a fridge. This is a catalogue of human resourcefulness.
Azure
David Dick-Agnew
Across 256 pages, this small but enlightening anthology brings together such DIY "products" as an outdoor shower assembled from school bus doors; and a makeshift table topped with a street sign, which looks as if it belongs in a hipster loft.
"It started about six months ago, when I didn’t greet a woman who lives in the block – I had my reasons. I was about five metres from her, so we looked into each others eyes. I had no idea it was going to end up like this. After about five minutes she ran down the stairs and locked the door on me – just like that! She locked it right in front of me... Then I thought to myself, what if she’s going to lock the door on me again? So I took my keys and as I was coming back I actually saw her running down and locking the door again! That’s all. That’s why I’m climbing in through the window… It’s hard to explain. This sort of thing has been going on for years, since the day I moved here. The whole neighbourhood is rather odd. When I first arrived an old woman who used to live at number seven actually said to me, ‘Oh, Mr Kajbr, this isn’t a nice neighbourhood to live in at all – you won’t be happy here.’ And really, she was quite right.
I haven’t experienced any joy whatsoever while living here. It’s just not right. It wasn’t always like this, I was lucky when I lived in the rest home in Moravia. I had support from some influential people at that time, and had been like that ever since my time at the academic institute. I wouldn’t call it good connections, but you could say it was back-up of some sort. But people were obviously misunderstanding these circumstances. It was all simply because I knew my craft really well, I was just doing my job well... For example while I was in Moravia, I received a number of letters from the prime minister, but people refused to see that it was only for my work, nothing else…
So now I’m using this little step to climb in the window. At first, because the log was broken in half, I just used it to chop wood on. Then I used it to rest my elbow on while I was sitting. Later I put a screw in it, because it was wobbly, and then used it to rest my leg on when I was studying the Bible. I lay my leg on it and put the books on that leg. It was only later I used it outside. I’ve put it next to that window because it was too heavy for somebody to steal it. I don’t think anybody would be able to take it away with them."
FORMAT: Hbk, 5 x 8.25 in. / 272 pgs / 230 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $34.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $40 ISBN: 9780956896230 PUBLISHER: FUEL Publishing AVAILABLE: 5/31/2012 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by FUEL Publishing. By Vladimir Arkhipov. Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell. Foreword by Jeremy Deller.
For this enchanting sequel to the critically acclaimed Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts (2006), Russian artist Vladimir Arkhipov has travelled across Europe to further his collection. The objects he has found are made by everyday people inspired to create something themselves, rather than buying manufactured goods. Many have been made in pursuit of a hobby, or because the maker had the time and inclination to construct something personal. In other cases, the objects are more vital to the maker’s livelihood. Arkhipov’s archive includes hundreds of objects created with idiosyncratic functional qualities: an Austrian ski-bob made using an old bicycle frame; a metal strip full of spikes used to deter pigeons from landing on window ledges; a beautifully painted rocking-motorbike for children; and a device from Germany that enables a musician to play three brass tubas at once. This volume features 230 individual artifacts from Albania, Austria, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine and Wales, each of which is accompanied by a photograph of the creator, their story of how the object came about, its function and the materials used to create it. With a foreword by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, Home-Made Europe is an essential companion to the first volume, expanding its theme with more recent objects that suggest that the charm of the home-made utilitarian object transcends even the dictates of necessity.
