What things do people need and what do they do with it? Since 1988 I have been running the Archive for Contemporary History. In it I collect things which surround us in our daily life. These everyday things are neglected by museums and archives. Why must history first be buried to be dug out by archaeologist?

I try to evenly collect and archive all existing things. I strive for a copy; a net-like image of our environment. For instance a pair of repaired worn-out dungarees can be sorted into Factory/Trousers, Clothing/Trousers, Social Class/Worker/Trousers, Crafts/Sewing/Trouser and so on. In each of these different categories the dungarees is connected to related things. Every single thing is a link to a multitude of other things.

Three-dimensionally the archive is composed of a storage unit. At the time the collection includes about 5000 banana cartons filled with small things and a large number of big things like window-frames, post boxes or lamps - in total the collection contains about 500.000 objects. One goal is to register all the objects by computer. In the Alphabetic Catalogue a record card for every one thing is filed with a photograph and it's several assigned links on it. Subsequently the numbered things are packed into cartons and stacked on racks. The photographic catalogue, published 2007, contains about 2000 things and functions like an encyclopaedia.