The Allen Ruppersberg Sourcebook: Reanimating the 20th century is a unique collection of original source material edited by Ruppersberg from his extensive archives of texts, images, films, records and ephemera influential to his practice over the past four decades. Focusing on nine projects by the artist from 1978 to 2012, the Sourcebook offers an exclusive insight into Ruppersberg’s thinking, and a practice sparked by his interest in 20th century popular culture and pre-digital materials.


In 2011, Independent Curators International (ICI) created the Sourcebook Series, dedicated to contemporary artists’ personal perspectives on social, political, and cultural issues. For the second Sourcebook in the series, Allen Ruppersberg has mined his archives, stored between his family home in Cleveland and his studio in Los Angeles. Delving into the influences and research that has impacted him, the artist has assembled various selections from this material, reprinting key texts by Allen Ginsberg and Marshall McLuhan, among others, and reproducing album and magazine covers from his collection. All together, these ephemeral and pre-digital materials open new perspectives on the way the American century underpins the artist’s practice.


The publication is articulated through nine important artworks from Ruppersberg’s career including his 1995 project for the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations; his 1997 guide book for the Münster Sculpture Project; his 2012 project dedicated to the American vernacular of recorded music, No Time Left to Start Again/The B and D of R ‘n’ R, and more.