Zurich crime scene: collecting spray guns makes you happy

Do all collectors like to show their collections? Is that what they have in common: the pride, the joy of collecting?
Most collectors want to show their collections, share their experiences and knowledge. It fills them with joy to be able to communicate with others about their object.
 

Some of the collections on display have made it into the Guinness Book of Records. Is this the crowning achievement for the collectors?
While for some it is about collecting as many objects as possible, others are interested in selected rarities and not in the quantity per se.

 
What do the objects tell us? What do we learn from a collection of Do Not Disturb signs from all over the world?
In "Collectomania" we also try to show the stories behind the objects. In this way, even objects that are not very valuable in themselves, become gems. Just imagine: Someone has spent years working in hotels all over the world. With the door signs that he brings home from everywhere, suddenly his environment also participates. For people who deal with graphics, there is both good and really bad design to be seen. And for all of us, it's interesting to note that the gesture of putting your finger to your mouth is apparently understood in different cultures as "shhhh," please be quiet!
 

Is there a collection that you would have liked to show but couldn't?
Yes, I would have liked to show a collection of very different staircases that a gentleman in England has assembled. He has a collection housed in a hangar.
 

Is the exhibition actually limited to Switzerland?
No, the artist Dina Kelberman, who collects Google and Tumblr images, works in the U.S., an important Panini collection is from Italy, the world's largest Barbie collection is that of Bettina Dorfmann in Germany, just to mention these.
 

The exhibition also shows official collections - things confiscated at customs, for example. It's nice that this collection is now not only allowed to delight customs officers. How come?
The collection of customs seizures should not actually exist! It is a scandal that even today people bring whole elephant teeth, stuffed alligators or big cat fur as souvenirs across the border!
 

Your favorite collection?
I'm interested in the thing as a whole, I'm fascinated by people's fascination with things. I don't have any collecting fever myself.

The exhibition "Collectomania" can be seen at the Museum für Gestaltung on the Toni Areal until the beginning of January 2023. On September 15, Karin Gimmi talks with Salome Hohl, director of the Cabaret Voltaire, about "Collectomania: What's the Point of Order?" and on November 3 with Severin Rüegg, Head of Collection, Foundation for Art, Culture and History about "Contradictory Collections? We're talking about it!".

This text has been translated by DeepL.