Ghost Keeping

István Csákány
Ghost Keeping (2012)
 

Shown at dOCUMENTA (13) Ghost Keeping recreates a tailoring sewing room entirely out of wood. There are rows of sewing machines, complete with every wire, bobbin and knob of a real workshop. The piece was manufactured using the arduous, repetitive process of sanding very soft cheap wood. The material is traditionally completely inadequate for sculpture due to its tendency to fall apart and decay, and subsequently the piece needs constant upkeep. Strangely, it’s all been constructed to precisely 1.15 of the original size - almost imperceptible.  Alongside the wooden replica factory is a series of suits with no bodies inside. They appear to be typical male office wear, with crisp white shirts and fine pinstripe but are in fact based on an old defunct miner’s overall.

Also shown at the Ludwig Museum, Budapest, see nice blog post here.