Repository was presented in The Art of Assemblage, a landmark exhibition organized by William C. Seitz at The Museum of Modern Art in 1961. In a letter to Seitz, Brecht observed that "arrangement" was a more appropriate term for his cabinet piece because of the word's association with music and the organization of elements in a particular order. The objects in Repository are associated with ordinary actions—brushing teeth, opening doors, bouncing balls—and were chosen for their ability to engage viewers in what the artist called "events": everyday tasks that could be performed publicly or privately as art. Brecht, who aimed to blur the boundaries between art and life, was a central figure in Fluxus, an international movement of the 1960s and 1970s that brought together artists working with music, poetry, theater, film, and the visual arts. In 2008 Gilbert and Lila Silverman generously donated their renowned Fluxus collection to the Museum, including an important group of works by Brecht.
Gallery label from 2009.