A Collection in Two Acts

This is not a guide to collecting. Much like other practices related to art, such as creating and curating, the liberty and limitation take equal importance in forming the process. The titular exhibition held at Rossi & Rossi in the summer of 2022 utilised the collection of Yuri van der Leest to confabulate two representations of collectorship – one that is personal, and the other that is institutional.

This publication comprises over 50 works from van der Leest's collection accompanied by text written by each individual artist. Responding to the prompt of “in any language, style, or subject…these texts can be about the specific works exhibited, or about the context of an artist’s practice, or even unrelated to the works and art in general”, the artists defy the prevailing methods of art documentation where only rigidly formatted information is presented.

This publication also includes essays from the exhibition curator, Chris Wan of Daoju Art; the collector, Yuri van der Leest; and writer/art critic, John Batten. Together, the voices from many participants are included to create a text that is akin to Walter Benjamin's Arcades Project - a database of fragmented perspectives that adds up to the whole.

ISBN 978-1-906576-72-1
2022, Hardcover, 25.7 x 21.4 cm, 162 pages
Language: English, Chinese