Who is the collector?
The collector is an accumulator. He accumulates objects of all kinds, and theories about why are lost among them.
Childhood is metaphorically the most important period. We can forget what we do, how we think we die, but hardly forget how we grew up. During childhood we feel exempt from responsibility and consequences of actions. Perhaps that is why memories turn out to be so precious. They are a glimpse into who we really are, without the conditioning and constraints of later life. Ironic how such an elusive, unreal moment compared to practical life is the most authentic moment of our existence.
And it is this authenticity that the collections perhaps find in those
objects, from the apparent absence of meaning.
Object value, the ability to appreciate the value of an object by virtue of its history and one’s own experience, is at bottom a manifestation of sincere truth.
Collecting is in some ways geopolitics and anthropology. The collector likes to “rule” the world. To put the flag on the various countries on the map.
For example, the serial coin collection is the collection of a civilization, a nation, a people.
Of course, there are people who collect for the sheer sense of rarity. They collect because it is rare, the piece is unobtainable, the piece is unique and only I own it. Most of the items collected are actually locked in drawers. It is practically impossible to display them. Yet somehow the feeling of belonging, of possession, remains.
We own them, they are ours alone.
At the end of the day, what an object represents does not matter, but as it turns out, its authenticity is the key. Even if the representation were shabby, the photograph might turn out to be more important. In fact, the digital representation of a photo taken 150 years ago loses all meaning, even if what it represents is identical. We like that kind of paper because it has to be that way, because it means that photo was taken at that time. Posthumous reproductions do not interest us.
Diallaghe is the transit store, valuables with modern methods. A journey, an odyssey in search of the true iridescent in aspects that never change. And in the meantime, we relax with a good story.
Look at that! I wonder what it is! What was it from? How old is it? I mean what is the history it has and what people has it met?
To you, Diallaghe – The Collector Odyssey
