A4 ring binder, 31.5 x 28 x 5 cm, black hardboard with handle hole, lever mechanism, clip fastener, inner cover stamped on front and back, signed,
Contents: Albert Coers booklet: ‘ab hier’ (from here), 14.8 x 10.5 cm; 56 pages; original materials from the archive, information sign, gloves, office supplies, blank layout sheets, some in transparent film, 100 sheets with black-and-white photographs, laser print
May 2025
Edition 10 copies + 1 EA

The artist publication is being released on the occasion of the exhibition ‘The documents are in a state of storage. Poetry and administration from the archives of the Künstlerverbund im Haus der Kunst e.V.’, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich, 20 March–25 July 2025

The Künstlerverbund im Haus der Kunst e.V. is the successor to the Ausstellungsleitung München e.V. [exhibition direction] founded in 1948, which organised the Große Münchner Kunstausstellung [Great Munich Art Exhibitions] and well over 100 special exhibitions at the Haus der Kunst from 1949 to 2011.

Albert Coers examines the archive and develops artist publications, the booklet ‘ab hier’ (from here) and the present edition in the form of a binder. Here, photographs from the archive and original materials come together.

The spine is covered with a photo of the inscription ‘AL. ARCHIV,’ which comes from the door to the archive. When you open the binder, you encounter the booklet ‘ab hier,’ designed with ring eyelets for filing in a folder. It is thus archived in its own right.

Coers fills the binder with finds from the archive that are related to decades of exhibition activity: a sign saying ‘Please do not touch!’, which can be interpreted in relation to art, but also to dealing with the past; gloves, a padded strip of fabric that appears mysterious, reminiscent of ethnological artefacts and probably served as a spacer for picture frames; administrative and organisational materials, receipts from the Haus der Kunst, index cards.

The black-and-white photographs from the archive that follow reproduce the objects there on a scale of approximately 1:1. In this respect, they differ from those in the booklet. The reduced black and white makes them resemble photocopied documents. Labels testify to an attempt at order. Numbers play an important role, evoking associations (e.g. ‘1975’, Coers’ year of birth). Letters from the archived correspondence are also reproduced.

The photographs are followed by further original materials and imprint, coloured cardboard, blank sheets with layout frames, cardboard from boxes with envelopes, some of which are stamped. Original stamps ‘Ausstellungsleitung Haus der Kunst’ (front cover) and ‘Erledigt’ (back) expand the range of media used and play with the authentic character, but also the archival-bureaucratic character, of the binder as a whole.