ANY 02

262 pages

7.44" x 9.68"

Softcover, $20

ISBN: 978-0996944205

On Sale: November 2015

Museum der Unerhörten Dinge is a "Literary Cabinet of Curiosities" curated by Roland Albrecht, located between house numbers 5 and 6 on Crellestraße in Schöneberg, Berlin. The museum displays unique objects and their unheard (of) stories, all categorized according to weight, and holds the record of being the most visited museum in Berlin (if one offsets the number of visitors to the square meters of the exhibition space).

Museum of Unheard (of) Things is the catalogue raisonné of the museum, assembling its entire current inventory, translated into English for the first time. It intends to grow as the museum collection expands, At the present moment (Fall 2015) it contains 78 items.

"Berlin exists for Museum der Unerhörten Dinge, or maybe the whole world exists for this small museum"  - Tomomi Adachi

Roland Albrecht was born in 1950 in the town of Memmingen in the Allgäu (Southern Germany). He lives in Berlin and has worked in various medical professions. He is a photographer, artist, and writer who has published and exhibited widely with pieces that mainly focus on text and object. His work includes collages, short radio plays, short films, soundscapes and audiovisual portraits. He has been curating The Museum of Unheard (of) Things since its inception in 1997.

You Nakai either makes music, dance, haunted houses and other works as part of No Collective (http://nocollective.com), or publishes books and other paraphernalia as part of Already Not Yet, or does research on music and other curiosities and writes papers about his findings.

Alexander Booth is a writer and translator. His work has appeared in numerous international print and online journals. He lives in Germany.

Reviews:

Compulsive Reader >

"what we hear through this beautifully illustrated book, page after page and object after object, are histories of failure, stories of things and events that did not manage to register themselves into history. [...] The common theme running through these diverse stories is that of a constant failure of objects and people to adapt to the present. Intentions and hopes are misunderstood and neglected, leaving a gap between the object (and its human provenance) and the rest of the world. They become lost because they have lost. As a result, the stories are silenced and forgotten, the objects rendered trivial. Relationships collapse and people die too soon, but hope lies in the fact that things survive—they remain unheard, but nonetheless they remain, clutching onto the periphery of the shared present like the enigmatic sixth finger that demands (a different) history to be told."

Midwest Book Review >

"An inherently fascinating and absorbing read from beginning to end…”

Historical Novel Society >

“Albrecht does not explain how such objects as a cow pie came into his hands. Instead, he creates the forgotten culture which worshipped it. I found his accounts amusing, exasperating, boring, intriguing, and very clever. [...] If you can suspend disbelief, give Museum of Unheard (of) Things a try.”

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