‘Theoretisch chinesisch – Über die hypothetischen Archive in der Austellung ”Taiping Tiangua – A History of Possible Encounters”’

Theoretically Chinese
On the Speculative Archiving of »Taiping Tianguo: A History of Possible Encounters«

A tantalizing piece of fiction is the staged encounter between specific historical figures, allowing for another possible history, or even another possible outcome of history. This trope has been used in both literature and film, in the latter case, for example Ettore Scola’s »That Night in Varennes« from 1982, that placed, among others, Thomas Paine and Casanova in the same coach, escaping from the French revolution, or Nicolas Roeg’s »Insignificance« from 1985, that paired Albert Einstein with Marilyn Monroe, surveilled by J. Edgar Hoover! Such scenarios can create imaginative conversations and juxtapositions, as well as an element of ›what if‹? If these people had been able to meet and engage, other constellations of discourse would have been possible, ultimately to the effect of changing history. It presents, if you will, an ›alternative history‹, not one of alternative facts and accentuations, but of imagination.