The Plan

Michael Schmelling
The Plan
Photographs: Michael Schmelling
Text: Richard Maxwell
Publisher: J&L Books
566 pages
Pictures: 490
Year: 2009
Comments: Softcover. First edition, 2009. Black and white offset onto newsprint.Text in english. Edition limited to 500 copies. Numbered. Some wear otherwise in very good condition.
Between 2003 and 2005 Michael Schmelling photographed a number of residences in the accompaniment of Disaster Masters, a New York-based company that specializes in cleaning homes and counseling hoarders. Facing eviction, health hazards, and family interventions, the owners of these homes were unable or unwilling to get rid of the things they had accumulated. These people are often diagnosed clinically as having Obsessive Compulsive Hoarding Disorder (OCDHD). Through a process of salvaging and discarding, the contents of a home can be disposed of and rearranged within hours. The process can be both invasive and cathartic. Working through this chaos, Schmelling illuminates the random sentimentality that can infuse one’s belongings.
While hoarding may at first appear to be an aberration, looking through The Plan can inspire a sense of familiarity and empathy. Many of the things Schmelling photographed are the same things that pass through our homes every day: an old baseball, a weeks worth of junk mail, some spare change, a rotten piece of fruit, unread books. Schmelling documented these interiors, their contents, and the process of clearing, as a means to examine the nature of hoarding and its antecedents: compulsion, consumerism, and the human need to impart meaning to objects.
The design of the The Plan takes its conceptual lead from its content, with 490 photographs on 576 pages. It takes its name from Disaster Masters’ toll-free number (1-800-THE PLAN). The book is divided into twelve chapters, each documenting a different home. The Plan is an arresting art object as well as a fascinating document of urban archaeology and psychology. Includes an essay by Richard Maxwell.











more books tagged »out of print « | >> see all
-
Bright, bright day
by Andrey Tarkovsky
sold -
Visions of Japan
by Daido Moriyama
sold -
The Girl in the Fifth Floor Walk Up (Signed)
by Charles Johnstone
Euro 90 -
O Perfume do Boi (Signed)
by André Príncipe
Euro 25 -
Mexico
by Anton Bruehl
sold -
This face (ONLY 100 COPIES)
by Xu Yong
sold
more books tagged »Artist's book« | >> see all
-
Every building on the Sunset Strip
by Ed Ruscha
sold -
Bangkok
by Heidi Specker
sold -
I only ever thought of you as temporary (EDT of 25!)
by Joanna Epstein
sold -
For those who listen (ONLY 50 COPIES)
by Yuliya Khan
sold -
James Wedge Book (Signed)
by James Wedge
sold -
Le Style (ONLY 100 COPIES WITH 2 PRINTS)
by Scheltens & Abbenes
sold