In its first exhibition, the Archiv der Avantgarden is being transformed into the Archive of Dreams. It is a space of dreams and uncanny visions that are archived, activated, rediscovered, examined, exhibited and performed. It is an archive and at the same time a Bureau, an exhibition, a place of participation and discourse. It is a labyrinth of visions, ideas, creative processes, and historical testimonies, where ancient myths unfold in avant-garde practices.
The Archive of Dreams is a place of exploration of Surrealist impulses. It highlights the work of the Surrealists as the first group of artists to develop archiving practices as an avant-garde gesture. One hundred years ago, in 1924, André Breton published the Manifesto of Surrealism and the Bureau des recherches surréalistes (Bureau of Surrealist Research) was founded to collect, archive, and study dream testimonies in all forms.
The exhibition presents avant-garde practices that blur the boundaries between reality and dream, passive archive and active revolutions, between past, present and possible futures. Over 300 works – objects, collages, drawings, books and magazines, photomontages and films – illustrate the methods of Surrealist groups around the world. Their themes merged with ethnology, anthropology, sociology, and political activism and also partly inspired other experimental avant-garde movements of the post-war period, such as Art Brut, Cobra, Pop Art, and Fluxus.
