Introduction

Roth’s major research project with Georg Diez, 80*81, sought to reconstruct events in the period from January 1980 to December 1981 as evidence of important paradigmatic cultural and historical shifts. These were chronicled in thirteen books and presented at elaborately staged congresses in Berlin, New Delhi, São Paulo, Johannesburg, and theater performances in Hamburg, New York, and Zurich. In an additional volume, 2081, the authors constructed a future that, in turn, looked back to their 80*81 project as paradigmatic.