ABSTRACT
It has been argued that collecting is an instinctive human practice for most people. Collecting practices, however, are very historically and culturally conditioned and vary greatly. Susan Pearce argues, ‘collections are psychic ordering, of individuality, of public and private relationships, and of time and space.’ 1 Undoubtedly, all collections carry an autobiographical significance to the collector, which, nevertheless, has to be balanced with the objects’ own intrinsic meaning when made public. However, this argument is supported mainly by the notion of individuality and object veneration as developed historically in Europe. Most collectors in the Euro-American hemisphere were/are wealthy individuals – traditionally nobility and royalty and later industrialists and entrepreneurs – who after amassing a considerable collection of works, collected originally for different reasons connected to the European understanding of social structure, property and possessions, turned them into public ones. The style, format and content of the objects collected, thus, reflect individual and personal considerations, be it of personal taste, the market, or other sociopolitical and cultural issues. Pearce further demonstrates that the practice of modern collecting is very much entrenched in consumerism and material goods, which led to inventing a complex ‘social dimension to collecting’ in order to forge legitimizing narratives. 2 The historical logic rooted in the industrial revolution and ensuing social changes, which led to forming new practices in Europe, is completely missing from the historical context of the formation of the Iraqi state.
