We teamed up to work on an animation as a personal project to challenge ourselves and improve our techniques and style. In exploring our shared interests, we delved into the fascinating world of collecting (German: Sammeln), which became the central theme of our film. We asked ourselves many questions like what even is collecting, what makes something worth collecting and why we have an innate urge to collect.
We discovered that collecting extends beyond humans and includes many animals. Whether it's gathering food or building nests with precision, animals also have a natural inclination to collect. Collecting is a natural phenomenon—a living being's interaction with its environment. It involves arranging, filtering, and sorting our surroundings.
Interestingly what may be valuable to one person may not hold the same significance for another. It's the deep appreciation for each object, the journey to acquire it, the careful curation and the artistic presentation that give individual items and the collection as a whole its value.
That way even a simple stick can become a piece of art.
Thank you for your time.
© MAX SALZBORN & KEVIN JAEGER 2023
