Residency in Börstingen - 9

Kurt Schwitters constructed the Merzbau, an alteration of six rooms of his family home in Hanover, Waldhausenstrasse 5. It was a room sized- walk-in abstract collage, made of found objects, columns and grottos. He started working in 1923 but was forced to flee to Norway in 1937. By 1937 it had apparently spread to some rooms of his parents' apartment on the first floor, the adjoining balcony as well as the space under it and one or two rooms in the attic.

It grew organically over time and was constructed anew wherever Schwitters went - (Norway, the UK) following him around. The original Merzbau was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1943.

It was a kind of architectural growth within rooms, a parasite growing into the everyday space of the house.