Dimensions: support: 331 x 253 mm frame: 523 x 421 x 29 mm
Copyright: © DACS, 2014 | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This is Kurt Schwitters' "Opened by Customs," a collage piece. The textures seem very tactile and the colors are muted but warm. What is your take on this piece? Curator: It feels like a visual diary, doesn’t it? Schwitters called his collages “Merz,” rescuing fragments of the everyday—bus tickets, newspaper scraps—to create something new. It's a rebellion against the idea of art being precious. Editor: So, the mundane becomes… meaningful? Curator: Exactly! He’s asking us to see the beauty in the discarded. What if we all paid such close attention to the overlooked details of our lives? Perhaps art is all around us. Editor: I see it differently now. Thanks!
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/schwitters-opened-by-customs-t00214
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Schwitters made this collage in Norway, shortly after emigrating from Nazi Germany. Among the pieces of rubbish he incorporated are various kinds of wrapping paper and fragments of German and Norwegian newspapers. The title was chosen by the artist’s son, from a pair of German customs labels included in the work, and stamped with the place and date ‘Hannover 3.8.37’. He later explained: ‘my father wanted certain parts of his Collages read and understood, intellectually, and he often made these the actual titles of his works. Usually, they were witty, ironical or even sarcastic.’ Gallery label, January 2016
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