The 20th century’s avant-gardes as seen through invites, postcards and various inventive forms of printed communication, from Oskar Schlemmer to Nam June Paik

The Archiv der Avantgarden in Dresden contains approximately 1.5 million items of ephemera from the 20th-century avant-gardes. Much of this material involves internal communications from within the art world, such as invitations to events and advertisements for exhibits. Invitation: Archive as Event compiles a wide selection of these communications, from a photocopied collage advertising Charlotte Moorman and Nam June Paik’s Mixed Media Opera to Oskar Schlemmer’s handwritten pink postcard inquiring about a gallery show presented by Walter Dexel. Still more event descriptions, case studies, interviews and visual references provide a compelling history of aesthetic trends in graphic design as well as insight into the myriad ways in which artists promoted their own work.

Invitation: Archive as Event provides an archive-driven take on the social circles and institutions that drove the evolution of contemporary art throughout the 20th century. It provides important sources for scholars, students, artists and curators in the development of a lively and participatory archival model.