Between Walls and Windows. Architecture and Ideology

The former congress hall is an architectural icon and a paradigm of post-war modernity which manifested itself as part of the International Construction Exhibition in Germany. It was commissioned by the US government in 1956 and designed by Hugh Stubbins, erstwhile assistant of Walter Gropius in America. For ideological reasons, the building was constructed on an artificial hillock as a symbol of freedom that could be seen from afar in both East and West.

The architecture of the former congress hall and the history behind it form the focal point of Art, Architecture and Ideology. The artistic approach is focused not on the building itself but on the ideas and questions which architecture answers, as an instrument of construction history, philosophy and politics. What role does ideology play in art and architecture today? What are the parallels between the ideological space of the former congress hall and the ideological space that surrounds buildings in other cities today?

The project will feature an exhibition with eight to ten new productions by international artists and architects such as Eran Schaerf, Monika Sosnowska, along with nOffice and Atelier Bow Wow, who will transform the interior spaces and exterior surfaces of Haus der Kulturen der Welt, and a discussion forum that explores all the things “architecture“ can be.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog with numerous texts and an extensive picture section.

The curator of the exhibition, Valerie Smith, will open the architectural discussions in the new year with the series Spot On: Architecture. In edition # 1 Pedagogy on 10 January, she will ask questions about education and training at German and international architecture academies and their effects on the architectural future. More editions will follow in the course of the year, addressing the topics of Pedagogy II, Ecology and Ideology.

Curator: Valerie Smith, Haus der Kulturen der Welt

With: Markus Miessen (Studio Miessen, Berlin), Wang Shu, (Amateur Architecture Studio, Hangzhou, China), Juan Pablo Corvalán (Supersudaka, worldwide), Marko Sančanin (Platforma 9,81, Zagreb), Eran Schaerf (Tel Aviv/ Berlin), Paola Yacoub (Beirut/Berlin), Ângela Ferreira (Lisbon), Monika Sosnowska (Warsaw), Terence Gower (New York/Mexico City), Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (Chicago)