Oliver Sieber - Imaginary Club - 2012

Oliver Sieber, Imaginary Club
Artist's book 2012
Digital offset printing, Indigo, paper: Römerturm Columbo
Hand-bound by the artist (stapled/glued)
432 pages, 21 x 27 cm
In a box, handcrafted by the artist.
Exclusive edition of 8 copies
Signed box
Edition number #7/8

Includes 2 unique prints (2012, printed by the artist).
Harman Gloss Baryta warm (this paper is no longer produced)
Reviewed with notes from the artist.
Prints
Ike Los Angeles 2001: 26.4 x 20.2 cm
Hairstyle guide, New York 2009: 14 x 18.5 cm

This edition is the original artist's book edition from 2012, initially handcrafted by Oliver Sieber in a limited run of 8 copies (the pages were printed using digital offset). In 2013, a publisher's edition was released, a collaboration between Böhm Kobayashi (Dssd) and Gwin Zegal (Guingamp).
In 2014, the book was awarded as 'Photobook of the Year' by the Aperture Foundation and Paris Photo.
Other copies of this special edition are in private collections, as well as in the institutional collections of the Folkwang Museum Essen and the photographic collection of SK-Stiftung Kultur Köln.
A complete collection of all prints (printed in an edition of 2+I) is housed in the collection of the V&A Museum London.

The Imaginary Club has been displayed as follows so far.
2024: Japanese Culture Institute / Japan Foundation, Cologne
2020: Openeye Gallery Liverpool
2019: Kunsthalle Gießen
2018: Lianzhou Festival
2016: Kunstmuseum Bonn
2015: Kyotografie
2014: International Festival of Fashion & Photography, Hyères
2014: Gallery Stieglitz 19, Antwerp
2013: Hermès Foundation, Bern
2013: The CLUB 013, Arles
2011: Museum of Photography, Braunschweig
2010: Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne


More information here: https://oliversieber.de/index.php/2025/03/08/imaginary/



Sieber's images of subcultures do not resemble documentary photos of young people from the underground scene, nor do they resemble the candid street shots we see in magazines and blogs. In traditional documentaries, young people are very aware of the camera, often staring directly into the lens or posing in fixed stances. This creates a cliché of their subculture. Sieber's young subjects may dress their bodies in extravagant styles, but with their gazes directed at a distant point, they exude calmness, even gentleness. The images seem to capture a moment when they suddenly reconnect with themselves, even as they play a predetermined role.

A subculture is a community that forms around identity. It is not simply a collection of dropouts and deviants, but a network of companions who seek an alternative identity to mainstream culture through shared aesthetics, ideas, tastes, and behaviors. They achieve this identity through mutual affirmation and use their physical presence to create an 'ideal self.'