Daniel Isaac Spoerri-Feinstein 1977

Editor: This is "Daniel Isaac Spoerri-Feinstein" by Daniel Spoerri, and it seems to be a collection of passport pages or documents, printed with various stamps and markings. The materiality, with its emphasis on printed matter, is striking. What can you tell me about it? Curator: Focusing on its means of production, consider how mass-produced documents, altered through stamping and cancellation, are recontextualized as art. Spoerri uses everyday, bureaucratic materials and transforms them. How does this challenge the traditional separation between high art and everyday consumption? Editor: It’s interesting to think about how the process of marking and cancelling becomes the art itself. So, he's using the existing marks of a bureaucratic process as his medium? Curator: Exactly. This elevates a mundane action into an aesthetic statement. Think about the socio-political implications too – these are documents used to control movement. It prompts us to consider the labor involved in creating and controlling these papers. What have you learned? Editor: I've learned to look beyond the image and consider the production and social context. Curator: Precisely, seeing the art in the process, not just the finished product.