Who is Hans-Peter Feldmann?

Art + Power's Beginning Creative Writing group, which meets every Friday morning at the Arnolfini, have been looking at the work of Hans-Peter Feldmann for creative inspiration. His work is currently being exhibited at the Arnolfini and he is interested in the idea of collecting objects. (You can find information about the exhibition by following this link http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/exhibition.php?id=41)

Today we started thinking about collections and talked about whether what you collect says something about you. Does the fact that you collect stamps or cars or paintings tell us anything about what you are like as a person? Does it give away secrets about what you are really like?

We looked at Hans-Peter Feldmann's collections displayed in the gallery and thought about whether it gave us any clues about him as a person. We imagined that we were spies and looked for clues in the exhibition to find out about his character. We asked ourselves the question 'Who is Hans-Peter Feldmann?' and used our answers to write a poem together. We would like to share our poem with you.

Who is Hans-Peter Feldmann?

He is German and has an eye for the ladies.
He loves dancing and makes movement with shadows.
He works better in the dark.
He looks at the blue sky once a day.

He likes to remind himself of when he was a little boy.
He never gets old because his memories keep him young.
He has been a policeman and a teacher.
His collections are memories of the lives he has lived.

He plays hide and seek behind the curtains.
He has a sense of humour.
He surprises people.
He is playful and silly.

His collections are for other people.
He records their lives.
He preserves objects in photos and behind glass.
He keeps his glass cutters locked in a glass case.

He is a hoarder.
He collects broken things.
He stores his memories.
He can't throw anything away.

He keeps objects around him but he is alone.
He collects objects to replace people.
His books conceal a hidden doorway and behind it we see his real collection.
What does he really collect?