I. “This is the globe on which I plot my curves of life”
II. Great Frame
III. The Princess Steel

Sometime between the years 1905 and 1910, W.E.B. Du Bois sat at his typewriter and began to write a story about Prof. Johnson. A sociologist who built the Megascope. A machine that enabled him to visualise the "Great Near". The ubiquitous mechanisms of an industrialised, capitalist world and its global imperialist methods that shape the conditions of the present. The fantastic tale of the Princess Steel, woven within the fabric of the Megascope, remained a sketch until it was published posthumously in 2015.

The installation is an approximation of the many possible designs of this imagined machine. It draws back on the visual language of sketch and model, and is an homage to the qualities of the unfinished.

. Shown as part of the group exhibition Diagrams for the Imagination (27-JUN till 28-JUL 2023) at the University Library of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Vordere Zollamtsstraße 7, AT-1030 Vienna.

. Special thanks to Jenni Tischer for her support and guidance in the creation of this work.

. W.E.B. Du Bois’ story “The Princess Steel” (pres. 1905-1910) was first published posthumously by Publications of the Modern Language Association 2015 with an introduction by Adrienne Brown and Britt Rusert
PMLA, 2015, Volume 130, Issue 3 (p. 819-29) do:10.1632/pmla.2015.130.3.819

The original manuscript is located at the Special Collections and Universit Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries W.E.B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312) mums312-b236-001

. With financial support from

Untitled (W.E.B. DuBois' Megascope) - Part I Installation View, Credit: Felix Siegl

Untitled (W.E.B. DuBois' Megascope) - Part I Details, Credit: Felix Siegl

Untitled (W.E.B. DuBois' Megascope) - Part II Installation View, Credit: Felix Siegl

Untitled (W.E.B. DuBois' Megascope) - Part III Installation View, Credit: Felix Siegl

Untitled (W.E.B. DuBois' Megascope) - Part III Studio Photograph, Credit: Felix Siegl