In his work “wertstoff”, Markus Heinsdorff explores the use and lifespan of objects: How do we treat the things that surround us? When they break, do we repair them, save them, dispose of them, recycle them? Which things are most important to us and how do we imagine the world in the future?
The multi-exposure photo on the billboard shows discarded items in containers and is the prelude to a series of further art actions. In “Wildes Plakatieren” (“Wild Billposting”), portraits of six Munich people who collect waste are displayed on 500 posters in 200 locations around the city. In another mobile campaign, portraits of garbagemen from 21 nations are displayed on 140 city refuse trucks while they are in use.
The interventions in public space are documented and explored in two exhibitions: The portraits of the Munich collectors are shown from 25 June to 1 October 2015 at the premises of H-TEAM e.V. The association supports and cares for people who, due to physical or mental illness, live in disorganised and neglected living conditions, often threatened by homelessness, debt or unemployment. The portraits from the refuse trucks are on display from autumn 2015 in the entrance hall of the Münchner Abfallwirtschaftsgesellschaft (Munich Waste Management Company).
Markus Heinsdorff, born in 1954 in Steinkirchen, lives and works in Munich.
