Birthmarks and DIN formats
Rauða húsið / The Red House | 1981-07-11 - 1981-07-19

From the series Birthmarks and DIN formats / Me as a 120 page Pocket book, from front and behind.

Serie: 60 black & white photographs DIN A6 (10,5x14,8 cm)
Photographed on 4 negatives with an Hasselblatt camera.
Assistant photographer: Herbert Rometsch.

The work on birthmarks and DIN formats consists of full size photos of Guðrún, cut into the DIN (Deutsche Industrie Normen) formats where her birthmarks play a significant role as important points or scientific subjects, which puts human decisions on agendas, many which don't matter at all or are at least of questionable importance and value, in a new and humorous light.
The subject, the human being, is here forced into the formats it puts everything else in, that is the DIN formats.

The exhibition on the birthmarks and DIN formats consists of three series of black & white photos and photocopies, a book project and a catalogue.

1. Photos DIN A2- DIN A9 - Guðrún Tryggvadóttir from back.
2. Photos DIN A6 - Guðrún Tryggvadóttir from front and back.
3. Photos and photocopies DIN A4. Me, to me, from me via POSTE RESTANTE - Mail Art. Guðrún Tryggvadóttir from back.
4. Me in DIN A6 - Book work. A pocket book of Guðrún Tryggvadóttir in DIN A6 from front and back. 120 pages. Published in 10 photocopied, handmade and signed copies.
5. A catalogue with texts, photos, photo copies and mixed media. 120 pages. Published in 2 handmade and signed copies.

The work on birthmarks and DIN formats consists of full size photos of Guðrún, cut into the DIN (Deutsche Industrie Normen) formats where her birthmarks play a significant role as important points or scientific subjects, which puts human decisions on agendas, many which don't matter at all or are at least of questionable importance and value, in a new and humorous light. 
The subject, the human being, is here forced into the formats it puts everything else in, that is the DIN formats.

The exhibition on the birthmarks and DIN formats consists of three series of black & white photos and photocopies, a book project and a catalogue.

1. Photos DIN A2- DIN A9 - Guðrún Tryggvadóttir from back.
2. Photos DIN A6 - Guðrún Tryggvadóttir from front and back.
3. Photos and photocopies DIN A4. Me, to me, from me via POSTE RESTANTE - Mail Art. Guðrún Tryggvadóttir from back.
4. Me in DIN A6 - Book work. A pocket book of Guðrún Tryggvadóttir in DIN A6 from front and back. 120 pages. Published in 10 photocopied, handmade and signed copies.
5. A catalogue with texts, photos, photo copies and mixed media. 120 pages. Published in 2 handmade and signed copies.

On the first page of the catalogue says:

This book is about
that part of me
that faces the outer world.

This book is about
my points and dots
that face the outer world.

Body, skin, birthmarks, sizes, formats, distances, constellations, self-examination, world view, narrow mindedness, broad mindedness, upscaling, downscaling, simplification, multiplication, view points, change, thoughts, sorting out and judging,  putting into perspective, taking out of context, counting in, projecting, moving, etc.

This series did originally consist of 19 black & white DIN A4 photos of my back, that I enlarged to real life size photos on thin photo-paper (Copy Line). Then I made stamps and stamped on each photo the name of the receiver and sender, address, POSTE RESTANTE, postal code, city and country. I made photocopies of all the photos before I folded them down to size DIN A5 to look more like letters, took them to the post office where I put stamps on them and sent them on their way.

The final series consists on one side of the letters I got back (11 letters) and photocopies of the letters I did not get back (7 letters) in spite of the international rule that POSTE RESTANTE letters shall be returned to sender if not picked up by receiver within a given time. The photo above shows one example, the letter to me from me that I sent to Beijing and was returned to me.