Multiversum: a collection of what ifs is a collaboration between University of Applied Sciences, Mainz (Hochschule Mainz) and students with The Athenaeum Press. Thirty-two German and American students collaborated for 8 weeks to create posters and writings that imagined our answer to 18 questions beginning "What if...?" The result showcases Generation Z's hopes, fears, and dreams of possible universes in a physical pop-up exhibition, book and website. Eight of the posters are animated via augmented reality.

A combination of absurd to macabre, this project invites you to journey through the multiverse to explore nature (what if we all took psychedelic mushrooms?) to fiction (what if time wasn't constant?). You can add your own questions (and answers) on the website.

Explore Multiversum

A collection of 18 posters and 18 sets of writing answering 18 What Ifs. Simple on the outset, but the issues that it tackles are complicated. Thirty-two students overcame language, cultural, and idealogical differences to produce 18 posters and writings that tackled questions ranging from "What if we were all the same color?" to "What if the industrial revolution never happened?"

The resulting project, a book, website, and pop-up exhibition ask the audience to also think of the impossible and the probable.

The exhibition and first editing book printing was supported by a 10,000 Euro grant for innovative teaching from University of Applied Sciences, Mainz, to the project team. The project is one of the first examples of how synchronous online learning can make an international collaboration more accessible to a wider swath of students using the COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) framework. This project was the first collaboration between creative departments at University of Applied Sciences and Coastal Carolina University.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to the numerous individuals who helped us pull off this collaboration that spanned semesters, continents, languages, and time zones. Thanks go to the International Office at University of Applied Sciences Mainz (Gabriel Belinga Belinga, Director; Denise Bieber, Research Assistant; Sabine Klebig, Mobility Coordinator; Caroline Sans, University Management and Administration) and the International Office at Coastal Carolina University (Darla Domke-Damonte, Associate Provost for Global Initiatives, and Tripthi Pilliai, Assistant Dean of the Edwards College). A huge thank you to our production crew, including Scott Dean for the CCU headshots, Michael DiGiorgio for film-wrangling, Zenobia Harper for coordinating local history tours for Sylvie Page´ during her visit, Hergen Eckoldt for printing a beautiful book, Markus Mau for showing the Mainz students the possibilities of artificial intelligence, and Marco Moll for helping install and print the exhibition. Our sincere thanks to our collective university leaders, Susanne Weissman (President, University of Applied Sciences, Mainz), Steph Miller (Visual Art Chair, CCU), and Claudia Bornholdt (Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts, CCU). A special thanks to Stephanie Swartz for making the initial connection between Scott Mann and Sylvie Page.

Credits

Student Contributors

• Group 1
  • Jefferson Bennet (CCU), Designer
  • Madi Orndorff (CCU), Writer
  • Anastasiia Pantiukhina (HM), Writer and Designer
  • Ivan Sharif (HM), Group 1 Writer and Designer
• Group 2
  • Hannah Holbrook (CCU), Designer
  • Jake Hall (CCU), Writer
  • Shirley Sidharta (HM), Writer, Designer, and Animator
• Group 3
  • Greylen Gatewood (CCU), Writer
  • Shawn Matthews (CCU), Designer
  • Nichole Schafer (HM), Designer
  • Bernd-Lothar Wechler (HM), Designer and Writer
• Group 4
  • Caroline Greene (CCU), Designer
  • Johanna Ludwig (HM), Writer
  • Delaney Marshall (CCU), Writer
  • Lena Schafer (HM), Writer
• Group 5
  • Elena Westiner (HM), Designer and Writer
  • Milla May (HM), Designer and Writer
  • Lourdes Skeete-Dennis (CCU), Designer and Writer
• Group 6
  • Mina Wellman (HM), Designer
  • Mikaela Smith (CCU), Designer
  • Michelle Moe (HM), Designer
  • Qulex Dickerson (CCU), Conceptual
• Group 7
  • Francesca Zuber (HM), Writer
  • Pauline Riember (CCU), Designer
  • Sony'a Holmes (HM), Conceptual
  • Donte Coleman (CCU), Designer and Writer
• Group 8
  • Aaron Wetzel (HM), Designer and Writer
  • Edda Seibert (HM), Designer Writer
  • Julianna Dunlap (CCU), Designer and Writer
• Group 9
  • Marlene Stuke (HM), Designer and Writer
  • Arnold Schneible (HM), Designer and Writer
  • Jay Orcutt (CCU), Designer and Writer
• Production
  • Katharina Kassinger, Exhibition Design and Production Lead
  • Candice Lucia, Graduate Sound Design
  • Kyle Yalch, Animations
  • Arnold Schneible, Project Management
  • Jay Orcutt, Web Design
  • Julianna Dunlap, Book Design
  • Shawn Matthews, Illustrations
  • Shirley Sidharta, Animation and Exhibition

Faculty Lead Team

• Sylvie Page, Professor of Dramaturgy, Mainz University of Applied Sciences
• Alli Crandell, Director, The Athenaeum Press at Coastal Carolina University
• Scott Mann, Creative Director, The Athenaeum Press at Coastal Carolina University