Home-Made Europe: Contemporary Folk Artifacts

For this enchanting sequel to the critically acclaimed Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts (2006), Russian artist Vladimir Arkhipov has travelled across Europe to further his collection. The objects he has found are made by everyday people inspired to create something themselves, rather than buying manufactured goods. Many have been made in pursuit of a hobby, or because the maker had the time and inclination to construct something personal. In other cases, the objects are more vital to the maker’s livelihood. Arkhipov’s archive includes hundreds of objects created with idiosyncratic functional qualities: an Austrian ski-bob made using an old bicycle frame; a metal strip full of spikes used to deter pigeons from landing on window ledges; a beautifully painted rocking-motorbike for children; and a device from Germany that enables a musician to play three brass tubas at once. This volume features 230 individual artifacts from Albania, Austria, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine and Wales, each of which is accompanied by a photograph of the creator, their story of how the object came about, its function and the materials used to create it. With a foreword by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, Home-Made Europe is an essential companion to the first volume, expanding its theme with more recent objects that suggest that the charm of the home-made utilitarian object transcends even the dictates of necessity.