The World as a Collection

Collector Erik Fens works in the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the oldest museum in the Netherlands. At work, he measures the air and humidity, at home he organises the world according to his personal views with a pair of scissors and glue. Fens' bookcase contains 700 volumes with collages of (newspaper) clippings, which vary from photographs of all kinds of hand-blown kisses to couches that have been put out on the street. With the images of Fens at work, both in the museum and at home, this born collector explains what the nature of collecting is and why someone does it. 'The inclination starts in the third to fourth year of one's life, when a child experiences an existential uncertainty. Collecting is organising.' Fens considers himself a meta-collector, who is especially interested in the why. His surprisingly forceful voice-over colours the introverted world of the collector, which is equally quiet and rich, more or less like the atmosphere in the oldest Dutch museum itself. (Nederlands Film Festival)