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Dust jacket. Susanne Altmann, When Technology Was Female: Histories of Construction and Deconstruction, 1917-1989 (Amsterdam: If I Can’t Dance, 2024). Design by Experimental Jetset.
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Book cover. Susanne Altmann, When Technology Was Female: Histories of Construction and Deconstruction, 1917-1989 (Amsterdam: If I Can’t Dance, 2024). Design by Experimental Jetset.
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Printing documentation. Susanne Altmann, When Technology Was Female: Histories of Construction and Deconstruction, 1917-1989 (Amsterdam: If I Can’t Dance, 2024). Design by Experimental Jetset. Photo: Marieke Stolk.
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Book launch documentation. Susanne Altmann, When Technology Was Female: Histories of Construction and Deconstruction, 1917-1989 (Amsterdam: If I Can’t Dance, 2024). Goethe-Institut, Amsterdam, January 2024. Photo: Temra Pavlović, courtesy of If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam.
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Book launch documentation. Susanne Altmann, When Technology Was Female: Histories of Construction and Deconstruction, 1917-1989 (Amsterdam: If I Can’t Dance, 2024). Goethe-Institut, Amsterdam, January 2024. Photo: Temra Pavlović, courtesy of If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam.
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Book launch documentation. Susanne Altmann, When Technology Was Female: Histories of Construction and Deconstruction, 1917-1989 (Amsterdam: If I Can’t Dance, 2024). Goethe-Institut, Amsterdam, January 2024. Photo: Temra Pavlović, courtesy of If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam.
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Book launch documentation. Susanne Altmann, When Technology Was Female: Histories of Construction and Deconstruction, 1917-1989 (Amsterdam: If I Can’t Dance, 2024). Goethe-Institut, Amsterdam, January 2024. Photo: Temra Pavlović, courtesy of If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam.
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Susanne Altmann, When Technology Was Female: Histories of Construction and Deconstruction, 1917-1989 (Amsterdam: If I Can’t Dance, 2024). Design by Experimental Jetset.
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Left to right: Danny van den Dungen, Erwin Brinkers, Susanne Altmann, Megan Hoetger, Martin Bach. Book launch documentation. Susanne Altmann, When Technology Was Female: Histories of Construction and Deconstruction, 1917-1989 (Amsterdam: If I Can’t Dance, 2024). Goethe-Institut, Amsterdam, January 2024. Photo: Temra Pavlović, courtesy of If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam.
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wtwfhcd03b-temra-pavlovic.jpg
Book launch documentation. Susanne Altmann, When Technology Was Female: Histories of Construction and Deconstruction, 1917-1989 (Amsterdam: If I Can’t Dance, 2024). Goethe-Institut, Amsterdam, January 2024. Photo: Temra Pavlović, courtesy of If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam.
When Technology Was Female: Histories of Construction and Deconstruction, 1917–1989 is a sweeping study of over seventy years of women’s artistic production meant for any reader engaged at the intersections of feminist and (post-)socialist art histories. In it, Susanne Altmann tracks continuities and ruptures between the early Soviet (c.1917) and late state socialist (c.1980s) periods through detailed discussions of a wide range of women’s artistic practices, including Liubov Popova, Varvara Stepanova, Tina Bara, Sibylle Bergemann, Věra Chytilová, Natalia LL, Dóra Maurer, the Erfurt Women Artists’ Group, Běla Kolářová, Evelyn Richter, Zorka Ságlová, and many others. Alongside the art historian’s close readings, the book also features over one hundred images of works ranging from print designs, costume sketches and stage maquettes, to photographs, collages, paintings, drawings, and film stills.
For the Amsterdam launch, Altmann and Hoetger were joined in conversation by the design collective Experimental Jetset(opens in a new tab) with whom they worked to realise the book’s experimental narrative form. Their discussion traversed a range of topics including performativity, haptic engagement, samizdat (self-published) printing, and political histories of design that link the early Soviet avant-garde and the (post-)punk era.
Altmann’s publication formed part of the commission When Technology Was Female, which Hoetger led as part of the Edition IX - Bodies and Technologies biennial program (2022-2023) for If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam. Special thanks to all who allowed for image reproductions, including: A.Lupas, P420, Bologna, and the Pejkoski Collection, London; The Art Institute of Chicago/ Art Resource, New York/ Scala Florence; the Deutsche Fotothek; Dóra Maurer and the Vintage Galéria, Budapest; Else Gabriel; the Estate of Běla Kolářová; the Estate of Zorka Ságlová and Hunt Kastner Gallery, Prague; the Evelyn Richter Archiv der Ostdeutschen Sparkassenstiftung im Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig; Jan Krumbach and the Ester Krumbachová Archive; the Kunstsammlung Jena; Lindenau-Museum Altenburg; the Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest; MOMus – Museum of Modern Art – Costakis Collection, Thessaloniki; Monika Andres; the Museum of Modern Art, New York/ Scala, Florence; the Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Ostkreuz – Agentur der Fotografen GmbH; the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden; Tina Bara; Verena Kyselka; and Zofia Kulik and the KwieKulik Foundation.
Author: Susanne Altmann
Graphic design: Experimental Jetset
Managing editor: Megan Hoetger
Series editor: Frédérique Bergholtz
Copy editor: Janet Grau
Page count: 320
ISBN: 978-94-92139-22-1