There are two elements to the presentation of this work, the gallery and the website. The concept behind this is to present the same objects in two ways in order to perceive them differently because of the influence of the format by which they are being viewed. Both forms of presentation make reference to the way in which collections can be accessed and the connection and relationship between private and public collectors.
The postcards themselves are layed out on a presentation table in the gallery. This is a typical way of showing ‘found’ objects in a gallery or museums surrounding in order to view them clearly and make comparisons on mass between all of the items in terms of style, theme and age. The postcards can be analysed as historical objects showing how the town has changed or as pieces of photography in their own right. It is possible to see the developing use of photographic techniques and styles that change with fashion. One of the main purposes of a postcard is to portray an idealised view of a place to tourists and ‘outsiders’ (non-locals) who may receive them. This idealisation goes beyond simply documenting the location.
Alongside this display are business cards with the web address of the supporting ‘collectors’ website. Visitors are able to take one away and explore the site in their own time. The site provides more information about the individual cards and the history of postcards. It also has an interactive element and a more personal connection to the collection. The look and feel of the website is not meant to be professional, the passion of sharing the collection takes more importance.
The title of the gallery piece and the website is “Southampton Postcard Archive”. It is plan and straightforward to explain the content of the work. The word archive is also intentional. An archive is “A place or collection containing records, documents, or other materials of historical interest”. This is true to an extent with this work but does not match the typical idea of an archive being extensive. This collection is by no means an archive; it is a small collection of commonly found postcard designs that many other serious collectors will already own or even disregard because of the number produced (locally). It expresses the self importance a collector can feel about their collection. By creating a website to share you collection with a wider audience makes the assumption that people are interested in what you have to offer. The word gives the collection an importance and cultural significance beyond its own means.
Museums and galleries are a Western invention and largely began as a way for rich private collectors to showcase their acquisitions. These institutions have had a long standing relationship with collectors. They have their own collections that they have gained through donations and their own purchases but they still very much rely on private collectors loaning their pieces for show.
In the art world large collectors now have the influence to make-or-break the name of an artist and dictate this through their buying power. Charles Saatchi is a prime example of this. The annual Art Review Power 100 list is a good indication of the rapidly changing power and influence in the art market. In recent years the websites Flickr and Google have made an appearance on the list. The internet has given a platform for hobbyist collectors (and artists) to share their passion with a wider audience than they ever could have reached in that past. The number of hits and tags an artist, curator or even a dealer gets can legitimise them in the same way it can anyone else. What this means is that art and collections are being interacted with in a new way, collectors have a new outlet to cleanse their psychological wounds and find validation through visitor feedback.
An important part of the act of collecting is the psychology behind it. Collectors can range from part-time hobbyists to influential buyers that have a hold over the art market and what trends. Many psychologists have written on the subject and a running theme is that collecting can be a way to cope with and control feelings of loss and a way to make sense of the world by making order from it. For now I shall focus on the theories of Sigmund Freud as he was a collector himself of ancient artefacts, which he displayed in his office and shared with his patients. He had a number of ideas about collecting and what basic fundamental drives lie behind the need for some people to collect items. Some of these theories are typical of a lot of his psychoanalysis and based around the erogenous zones and analogies about human faeces; and like much of his psychoanalysis it does not hold favour with the wider field of psychology and is largely disregarded. So for these purposes the focus will be on his metaphor between archaeology and psychoanalysis. His idea was that objects from the past, like memories, both reveal and conceal traces of a past that have become unconscious. Like archaeology, psychoanalysis dealt with uncovering the past, with fragments, and with interpretation or reconstruction. This is what collectors of historical objects do when they bring items together and form connections between them and a wider cultural history.
Regardless of the collectors focus and choice of items it seems that the act of collecting is an endless task that will never be complete. It would be impossible, for example, to single-handedly collect all existing postcards of Southampton. Or in the case of collecting limited items from a series it is never enough to own one series; another fascination will come along to carry on the need to collect.
As I started buying postcards and creating my own collection I found myself taking on characteristics of a real collector. The frequency of my purchases increased and so did the amount I spent on each card. I began regarding certain cards more important to obtain than others. My role hand changed from an outside analysing the psychology and process of collecting to becoming one myself and taking on the spirit, enthusiasm and sometimes obsessive characteristics of a collector.
Whilst trying to contact collectors on specific forums I had advised to use ebay to buy material for myself. This is increasingly where collectors now buy and sell new acquisitions. It also seemed the most convenient option for me as I am in control of what content I use. I set myself a budget of no more than £2 per item including postage costs. I didn’t not however set myself a total overall cost and this quickly grew. I took full advantage of combined postage from individual sellers and contacted them letting them know my interest in postcards depicting Southampton and asked them to keep me in mind if they got hold of any further stock. Creating this contact is essential for a collector wishing to gain items before other collectors get a chance. On one occasion one seller gave me two postcards for free because I had bought several others from them.
The focus of this project has changed from studying those who collect, why they do it and what they deem important enough to collect, to becoming a collector myself and taking on the role and the mentality of one. I was selective in what I bought and chose to disregard certain themes, for example postcards showing the Titanic or any card showing naval ships, cruises or the docks. These were of no interest to me despite also being a significant part of Southampton's history. Collectors are very precise in what they decide to focus their interest on. It may be particular types of postcard or items only by a certain publisher or a specific period of history. I also found myself grouping them by my own arbitrary rules, such as chronologically (dated by the postmark on used postcards), by style or by view.
At this point I decided to start creating this website, mimicking those I have seen by other collectors who make them because they want to share with a wider audience their hobby and the interesting items they come across. When creating a website you have to consider the copyright of the images you are using. This became an interesting issue with this mixture of postcards. The 1988 Copyright Act states the duration of copyright for artistic works as 70 years from the year the author dies. If the author is unknown copyright lasts 70 years from the year the work was created. The law also states that a "reasonable effort" must be made to find the copyright holder.
I could immediately rule out some of the very earliest postcards that did not credit the photographer. I tried searching those cards that did credit an individual or publishing company but many had long ceased trading which made them very hard to trace. Their only existance was now on collector's forums being talked about and reminisced. I asked the collectors on these forums if they could provide an insight but they were sympathetic to the lack of contact available. I went as far as contacting again the sellers I had bought the cards from on the off chance they could offer some further information - they could not but wished me good luck in my work. By this point I decided I had made a good enough effort to trace copyright holders to ask for permission to use the images. I was also told that it should not be too big an issue because the website and images were not being used as part of a business to make profit and contacting the people I had was enough to cover myself legally on the very small chance that a third party took issue with my work.
These blog posts are intended to explain a little more about this project and collection of postcards as well as the process and development towards displaying them in a gallery setting and the purpose of this additional website.
I was initially interested in the collections of others and set out contacting local postcard collectors with the intention of photographing and documenting the material they owned. In particular, postcards that showed scenes of Southampton. My idea was to look at how the area has changed over the years but also the architecture that has survived. Unfortunately the collectors I managed to contact for one reason or another were unable to take part. The main issue seemed to be handling the material and taking it away from the storage in their homes to be photographed in a studio. Perhaps rightly so a collector should be precious of their items but some of these people had the own website or blog in which they shared and showcased their finds (how I came across them in the first place) so it was very much the case of "look but don't touch". I will write further about the psychology behind collecting in another post.
My next option for acquiring material to use was to visit the local archives at Southampton City Library and Southampton University. Both of these trips were very interesting and insightful into the towns past. But again there were issues surrounding access. All that was available were poor quality photocopies or very expensive digital copies. Neither of these options was ideal. It was also difficult sourcing the correct material to view because there was such a vast amount of it and no way of previewing how it would look, apart from a short written description, before requesting to view the original copy brought out of the archives. This experience and frustration led me on to researching about the developments in archiving techniques. Many institutions are starting to build up digital databases online for the public to gain further access to the collections. It is also a useful research tool.
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