Imaginary Archive: Zeppelin University

Gregory Sholette with visionary architect Marcel Kalberer

With invited and established collaborators (see below)
White Box Gallery at Zeppelin University
Friedrichshafen, Germany
September 12 – November 26, 2015

Imagine yourself uncovering a cache of materials and documents that record a past whose future never arrived? Imaginary Archive is just such a repository: pamphlets, books, photo-albums, records, blueprints, small objects, whose assorted narratives imagine alternative histories and speculative tomorrows that nevertheless frequently shed a precise light on concrete realities. SPQ’s own Gregory Sholette has invited participants from Germany, Philadelphia, Ukraine, Ireland, New Zealand, Austria as well as others from around the globe to produce this Imaginary Archive, which is a collection of unknown, under-represented, dreaded and/or hoped-for “historical” materials that point to multiple interpretations of the past, the present, and the future. Working with Sholette, architect Marcel Kalberer designed and constructed a bamboo labyrinth within Zeppelin University’s White Box exhibition space to house this most current edition of Imaginary Archive while simultaneously inaugurating this new cultural venue for students and the public.

With special thanks to Professor Dr. Karen van den Berg,  Curator of Fine Arts Ulrike Shepherd, Bettina Pfuderer and the ZU Facility Management, as well as IA co-collaborators Olga Kopenkina and Matt Greco for their all around support, and to the White Box installation crew including: Caroline Brendel, Jona Kalberer, Laura Niemann, Toby Eckert, Friederike Kötter, Lena Mehner, Mathilde Nadeau, Maria-Luisa Villena, Christina Buck, plus the architects Prof. Eugen Rabold und Markus Müller for researching leads, Ingrid Feustel from the Hoffmann-Lederer archive and Hilde Corbo from the Narrenzunft Seegockel for materials, und Karl Heinz Mommertz for essential research.

Participating Imaginary Archivists (as of September, 2015) include: Aaron Burr Society: (Jim Costanzo), Agata Craftlove, Alan Hughes, Alexander Wolodarskij, Alien Abduction Collective: (Todd Ayoung, Heather Davis, Kim Asbury, Ulla Hvejsel, and Phoebe Bachman), Andrea Aversa, Anna Zvyagintseva, Austin Ivers, Azra Aksamija, Babis Venetopoulos & John Voyatzopoulos, Basekamp and Friends (Philadelphia), Ben Geoghegan, Brian Hand, Bryce Galloway & Students, Charlotte Schatz, Chris Esposito, Christina Lederhaas, Closed Engagement, Daniel Tucker, Dave Callen, Denis Pankratov, Doris Jauk-Hinz, Edda Strobl, Ellen Rothenberg, Eva Taxacher & Karin Ondas, Eva Ursprung, fabian dankl/johannes schrettle/christina lederhaas, Glen Goldberg, Grant Corbishley, Gerald Raunig, Gregory Sholette, Hanns Hoffmann Lederer, Helmut Kaplan, Jeffrey Skoller, Jenny Polak, Jeremy Booth, Liga für Kunst und Kultur: (Johannes Schrettle), City Life/Vida Urbana: (John Hulsey), Josef Fürpaß, Karl Lorac, Leah Oats, Lee Harrop, Lada Nakonechna, Lesya Khomenko, Malcolm Doidge, Matthew Friday, Matthew F. Greco, Maureen Connor, Markus Wetzel, Maryam Mohammadi , Miroslav Kulchitsky, Murray Hewitt, Mykola Ridnyi, Naeem Mohaiemen, Nannette Yannuzzi, Nayari Castillo, Niall Moore, Nikita Kadan, Oleksandr Burlaka & Oleksiy Radynskyi, Oliver Ressler, Eidia House: (Paul Lamarre & Melisa Wolf), Paul Maye, Patrik Aarnivaara, Pedro Lasch, REPOhistory, R.E.P. group, Reinhard Knall, Roger O’Shea, Salem Collo-Julin, Sarah Farahat, Sasha Dedos, Simon Fleming, Suchness, Tender & Endangered Cow/Horse of Dimness, TanzLaboratorium, Tiarnán McDonough, “TJ”, Theresa Rose, Thom Donovan, Trust Art, White Fungus Zine, Volodymyr Kuznetsov, Yevgeniya Belorusets, Yevgeniy Fiks, Zoe Beloff, and The Think Tank That Has Yet To Be Named: (Jeremy Beaudry, Katie Hargrave & Meredith Warner).

This website and its content is made available for educational, scholarly, and communal purposes. Likewise, all illustrations are included here solely for educational purposes. You are free to copy and distribute its content, but never for commercial profit. Please attribute the author whenever quoted or cited.