Selective Hoarding is a publication that explores the blurred line between collecting and hoarding, using peculiar and rare objects from the International Institute of Social History (IISG) in Amsterdam as a lens for this examination. The publication features three elements: a catalogue of unusual objects from the IISG collection, an interview with Frank de Jong, Head of Collections at IISG, and the short story The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. These components are unified in a poster that visually highlights several of the most curious items from the collection.

By focusing on these eccentric objects, the publication prompts readers to reflect on the difference between the purposeful act of collecting and the compulsive behavior of hoarding, inviting broader conversations about material culture and historical preservation. The IISG, one of the largest archives of labor and social history, provides a rich backdrop for this investigation, with its vast collection serving as a testament to the impulse to document and retain even the strangest of artifacts.

Project supervised by Matthias Kreuzer from Our Polite Society.