Daniel Spoerri

Portrait of Daniel Spoerri, Milan, Photo: Lothar Wolleh

Daniel Spoerri (German pronunciation: [ˈʃpœʁi];[1] 27 March 1930 – 6 November 2024) was a Romanian-born Swiss visual artist and writer.[2] Spoerri is best known for his "snare-pictures," a type of assemblage or object art, in which he captured a group of objects, such as the remains of meals eaten by individuals, including the plates, silverware, and glasses, all of which are fixed to the table or board, which is then displayed on a wall. He also is widely acclaimed for his book, Topographie Anécdotée* du Hasard (An Anecdoted Topography of Chance), a literary analog to his snare-pictures, in which he mapped all the objects located on his table at a particular moment, describing each with his personal recollections evoked by the object.

Daniel Spoerri with snare-picture
  1. ^ Kleiner, Stefan; Knöbl, Ralf; Mangold, Max (2023). Duden: das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German). Vol. 6 (8 ed.). Berlin: Cornelsen. p. 815. ISBN 978-3-411-04068-1.
  2. ^ Wieland Schmied and Daniel Spoerri, Daniel Spoerri: Coincidence as Master = Le Hasard comme maître = Der Zufall als Meister = Il caso come maestro, Bielefeld, Germany, 2003 at p. 8, hereinafter "Schmied and Spoerri"