Time Capsule
Leipzig
Book Fair 2023
Our Vision
The "Leipzig Book Fair 2023" Time Capsule Project is a joint effort by the students of the HTWK Leipzig and the German Museum of Books and Writing (DBSM). The project aims to collect and preserve a comprehensive collection of materials related to the book fair that do not have their own ISBN. The Time Capsule will serve as a representation of this year's book fair that is brought into the future.
The Team
Students of the HTWK Leipzig supervised by Prof. Gerhard Hacker
The students are part of the Library and Information Science courses taught at the University of Applied Sciences Leipzig.
German Museum of Books and Writing
The German Museum of Books and Writing is part of the German National Library. Its main goal is to collect, exhibit, and conduct scholarly research on objects from the history of books, writing, and media.
It is considered one of the oldest and most important museums in this field worldwide.
Our Inspiration
In 1914, the international exhibition of the book trade and graphics (BUGRA: Internationale Ausstellung für Buchgewerbe und Grafik) took place in Leipzig. Caught by surprise by the beginning of World War I, the exhibitors left almost everything behind as they fled. Books, flyers and even whole exhibitions!
The German National Library used this incident to collect everything that was left, allowing a one-of-a-kind snapshot of the book trade at the beginning of the 20th century.
Now, by working together with the exhibitors of the Leipzig Book Fair 2023, we want to recreate this, to preserve the book trade at the beginning of the 21st century for the future.