Overview

German writer, critic, and theorist Paul Scheerbart (1863–1915) died nearly a century ago, but his influence is still being felt today. Considered by some a mad eccentric and by others a visionary political thinker in his own time, he is now experiencing a revival thanks to a new generation of scholars who are rightfully situating him in the modernist pantheon. Glass! Love!! Perpetual Motion!!!is the first collection of Scheerbart's multifarious writings to be published in English. In addition to a selection of his fantastical short stories, it includes the influential architectural manifestoGlass Architectureand his literary tour-de-forcePerpetual Motion: The Story of an Invention. The latter, written in the guise of a scientific work (complete with technical diagrams), was taken as such when first published but in reality is a fiction-albeit one with an important message.Glass! Love!! Perpetual Motion!!!is richly illustrated with period material, much of it never before reproduced, including a selection of artwork by Paul Scheerbart himself. Accompanying this original material is a selection of essays by scholars, novelists, and filmmakers commissioned for this publication to illuminate Scheerbart's importance, then and now, in the worlds of art, architecture, and culture. Coedited by artist Josiah McElheny and Christine Burgin, with new artwork created for this publication by McElheny,Glass! Love!! Perpetual Motion!!!is a long-overdue monument to a modern master.

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9780226203003

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Reviews

An exciting and novel project that will encourage renewed attention to the beguil-ing and fantastical work of Paul Scheerbart, an indispensable figure for under-standing the long heritage of our technologically permeated present. --Sean Keller, Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture Rarely are the obscure so richly resurrected as Scheerbart is in this dense, absorbing volume. While preserving his crystalline quirkiness it lays bare for the first time the nexus of dazzling visions, timely theories, and compulsive conjecturing that made him a singular figure in his own day and a beacon in ours . . . --Lynne Cooke, 2012 2014 Andrew W. Mellon Professor, CASVA, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC An exciting and novel project that will encourage renewed attention to the beguiling and fantastical work of Paul Scheerbart, an indispensable figure for understanding the long heritage of our technologically permeated present. --Sean Keller, Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture Rarely are the obscure so richly resurrected as Scheerbart is in this dense, absorb-ing volume. While preserving his crystalline quirkiness it lays bare for the first time the nexus of dazzling visions, timely theories, and compulsive conjecturing that made him a singular figure in his own day and a beacon in ours . . . --Lynne Cooke, 2012-2014 Andrew W. Mellon Professor, CASVA, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 'Colored glass destroys all hatred at last.' I want to think about this sentence--and Scheerbart--forever. Scheerbart invents possibility. --Lynne Tillman, author of What Would Lynne Tillman Do? I was delighted to discover . . . the first English language compendium of Scheerbart's work. . . . Scheerbart is well worth discovering--or rediscovering--not just because he was uncannily prescient, but because his good-natured manifestos are so at odds with those of his more famous contemporaries. Ornament in Scheerbart's universe is never a crime. Machines are objects of fascination, but we don't have to live in them. And most of the world's problems can be solved simply by building walls of multicolored glass. --Karrie Jacobs Architect Colored glass destroys all hatred at last. I want to think about this sentence and Scheerbart forever. Scheerbart invents possibility. --Lynne Tillman, author of What Would Lynne Tillman Do? I was delighted to discover . . . the first English language compendium of Scheerbart s work. . . . Scheerbart is well worth discovering or rediscovering not just because he was uncannily prescient, but because his good-natured manifestos are so at odds with those of his more famous contemporaries. Ornament in Scheerbart s universe is never a crime. Machines are objects of fascination, but we don t have to live in them. And most of the world s problems can be solved simply by building walls of multicolored glass. --Karrie Jacobs Architect

An exciting and novel project that will encourage renewed attention to the beguiling and fantastical work of Paul Scheerbart, an indispensable figure for understanding the long heritage of our technologically permeated present. --Sean Keller, Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture

Author Information

Josiah McElheny is an artist living in New York. Christine Burgin is a publisher of books on art and literature.

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