Materials Lab Workshop: The Leporello as Portrait

Over a period of 21 years, German artist Ulrich Wüst created Hausbuch (House Book), a photographic portrait of a former East German home. The book includes a visual inventory of objects that he found on the abandoned site and assembled into an accordion-like book, or leporello. This workshop invites participants to create their own leporello that acts as a portrait of a place, time, or person(s) of your choosing.

Lynette Roth, the Daimler Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and Peter Murphy, the Stefan Engelhorn Curatorial Fellow in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, co-curators of the special exhibition Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation, will first guide you through Wüst’s Hausbuch in the Special Exhibitions Gallery, where you can view the unfolded work in its entirety. The group will then head to the Materials Lab to begin creating leporellos. You will be provided with magazines, newspapers, and other printed material to search through and cut and paste images from. You will also be guided in how to assemble the concertina-form elements. We strongly encourage you to bring your own photographs (or copies of them) and other images to add a personal touch to your leporello. The beauty of the form is that you can continue to add to your book long after you take it home!

The hands-on session will take place in the Materials Lab on the Lower Level.

$15 materials fee. Registration is required and space is limited; registration will open on this form, beginning on Wednesday, October 30, at 10am. Workshop fee must be paid to confirm registration. Minimum age of 14; no previous experience required.