Thursday, March 26, 2020

50 Years of Superstar; A heritage exhibition at the Adidas HQ

At the beginning of this month I spent a few days in Herzogenaurach 
to visit my favorite place on the Adidas HQ campus; 
The adidas archive.
My connection to the archive goes back quite a few years, so when I 
was asked, if I would like to contribute some pieces from my 
collection to an internal on campus exhibition I was please to help 
out.The exhibition pays homage to the 50th anniversary of the most 
iconic adidas model, the adidas superstar.















To get an exchange going I also took part in a panel discussion with 
adidas original's own Till Jagler, moderated by Martin Gebhardt from the 
archive's history management. We talked about the role of an iconic 
model like the superstar and it's value in today's short trended times, 
as well as the significance of interdisciplinary exchange between the 
brand and the personal perspective of collectors, trendsetters and
creatives. I was honored to represent the female collector, connoisseur
and creative side and talk about my experiences and views, while Till 
brought some essential business, trend and brand insight to the table. 
I have always been an advocate for interdisciplinary work and am so 
happy we were able to make this happen! At the end of the day we all 
are living and working inside our bubble, so I find exchanges and talks 
like this essential for an authentic culture, that isn't solely based on 
consumption and hype.

























The superstar is as rich in style as it is in history. It's iconic status is 
unparalleled, as few models have prevailed decades of trends and 
became a status symbol in so many scenes.
I lent a pair of 1986s Adidas ElDorado and a Sweatshirt from the RUN 
DMC collection to the archive and they displayed them beautifully.
















The idea for the on campus exhibition was to create a space 
that lets the employees/visitors check out the displays on their way 
to the canteen or, if interested in more, hang out and learn 
additional details and fun facts about the history of the model, by
scrolling through the info spots that accompany each display and get 
educated on the social, cultural and technical details.















While I was browsing through the info-pods I noticed the employees
streaming into the building for their lunch break. I loved how many 
of them skipped their way to the seating area and went straight to 
the exhibition space to spend their break there and have a look 
around.
Most people know the obvious historical history about the Superstar, 
but it was a pleasure to see that many employees got curious and 
took their time to explore more unknown facts about this icon.

Over all a well curated exhibition that reveals many interesting and
not-so-known-facts without giving the impression of an overload of 
details.
Since this exhibition is not open to the public I thought it would be 
nice to give you a peek into the space an it's rare content.
Enjoy all the pictures and additional infos after the jump










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