#10 Collecting

Gathering, not hunting: a new story of humankind

What if humanity began not with the spear but with the bag? Ursula K. Le Guin turns history on its head and makes the bag a symbol of what it means to be human.

Collecting

The world’s largest Playmobil collection: 400,000 figures

It all began in a child’s bedroom – today Oliver Schaffer owns the world’s largest Playmobil collection, with more than 400,000 figures. A visit to his high-bay warehouse.

Collecting

The library of rescued East German books

How a pastor in Lower Saxony saved thousands of East German books from destruction – and why one of them gave space research a crucial lead.

Collecting

The king of biros: 200,000 ballpoint pens in one collection

Clicky pens, special editions, promotional freebies: Heinz-Hermann has them all. The story of the biro, from Budapest to Brockel.

Close-up of a multi-tiered shelf holding brightly coloured boxes, each filled to the brim with ballpoint pens.

Collecting

Staging mortality: two photographers in a coffin

Two photographers lie down in a coffin and photograph each other. What sounds like breaking a taboo is an exploration of commerce and ritual – and of the question: is this allowed?

Collecting

Cigarette cult and cancer romance: a photobook about smoking

On cigarettes, addiction and smoking biographies: ‘Pleasure to Burn’ glorifies smoking – and is only half serious about it.

Two hands share a cigarette in an antique-looking style; flash, editorial, photography, smoking, addiction

Collecting

Everyday self-care: breathing, in spite of everything

The world is getting louder, young people more exhausted – and self-care is becoming a privilege. Where young people still find strength in their daily lives.

Collecting

Hannover’s hidden source of raw materials: recycling at the Nordhafen

Uncertain trade routes, wars and new regulations are putting the recycling industry to the test. At the TSR site in Hannover’s Nordhafen, a whole sector can be seen changing.

Collecting

Habibi Funk: on exploitation and musical heritage

What does cultural responsibility mean in the music business? A Berlin label is giving forgotten Arabic music a stage – and asking who that heritage belongs to.

Collecting

The architecture of the data trade

Few systems are as invisible – and at the same time as far-reaching – as the trade in user data. What we click on, search for or visit becomes a signal in a global market that sorts people into categories and targets information at them.

A landscape-format colour photograph. A desert landscape seen from above, with a gentle sand dune that has caved in at the centre of the image.

Collecting

Nuclear waste in Asse II: what remains

Nuclear waste lies deep inside Asse II – dumped carelessly, barely secured. Now water is getting in. A region has been waiting decades for answers, and the country for a permanent repository.

Collecting

‘Magic Nordhessen!!!’: a Kassel shop full of collections for almost 100 years

Kassel, Vorderer Westen: a shop where things have been collected for almost a century. We took a look inside.

We all collect something. Memories, things, data, debts. But what drives people to stack 400,000 Playmobil figures in a high-bay warehouse or to guard 200,000 ballpoint pens like treasure?

The stories in our tenth focus topic follow a pastor in Lower Saxony who saved thousands of East German books from the dustbin of history. A Berlin label that brings forgotten music from Arab countries back into the light – and asks who cultural heritage actually belongs to. And Asse II, a mine where Germany buried its nuclear waste and now watches the problem grow.

Collecting is never innocent. It is remembrance and a fantasy of control, a hobby and an obsession – sometimes all at once.

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