Łukasz Skąpski, Table
installation, mixed media
Table
I am the current owner of a dining table made in Germany in the 1920s. It can be extended up to almost 4 meters. I do not need so big a table but this one has a sentimental value for me: when I was a child, the whole family gathered around this table for festive meals in celebration of holidays and important occasions. It used to belong to my grandparents and reminds me of them. So, the idea to use it in this installation is a sentimental journey.
Books
My grandfather was a bibliophile – or even a “paperphile.” In his room, one can only move using the “corrodors” between orderly arranged piles of books and newspapers that took up most of the floor. There were chemical books written by my grandfather and his fellow chemists, sometimes multiple copies of a given title. And lots of other books and old newspapers saved because of articles that attracted my grandfather’s interest. The table was in the domain of my grandmother but books were the realm of my grandfather.
Things
I find it difficult to dispose of unnecessary things – I tend to think that they will come in useful someday. I have furnished my flat with throwaway pieces of furniture which I have rescued and renovated. Over time, I have collected so many vintage classics from the 1960s that some of them are now stored in the basement.
This installation features items loaned by Błażej who collects and renovates old things just as I do but more systematically and in a big way. He recovers various vintage items from trash bins in Wrocław and does not let them perish forever.