Arsenal is an archival treasure trove containing the inner workings of Anselm Kiefer’s mind. A window into the artist’s psyche, this incredibly personal installation contains straw and other natural vegetation from his studio in Barjac, archaic machinery in various stages of degradation – an old printing press and a scale – as well as drawers and boxes stacked to the ceiling and filled to the brim with objects.
Rolls of photographs hang from the ceiling and curl in piles on the floor like unravelling memories. The photographic negatives, to which Kiefer has affixed black and white photographs, are in fact made of lead. In his words, “[they are] like films, but it’s a paradox because the raison d’être of a film is to be transparent, to let light go through it to be projected. Glued on lead, these pictures are no longer viewable, visible.” This veritable chamber of knowledge contains objects and materials that may have become artworks or formed part of artworks at a later stage, providing the viewer with a tiny glimpse into the unmeasurably large archive of the artist.
