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0151 Archipel ×

Archipel was an exhibition built upon the manifesto for a shrinking city The City in the City—Berlin: A Green Archipelago by Oswald Mathias Ungers, Rem Koolhaas, Hans Kollhoff, Arthur Ovaska, and Peter Riemann, that took place at two venues: Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) and KOW. The book served as a historical foil for a dystopic explanatory model of Berlin that used to be characterized by urban heterogeneity—but has been experiencing a reorganization and a deliberate redistribution of social life since the early 2000s: The center of the capital has been occupied by a well-heeled clientele and prestigious apartment complexes and has forced everyone who cannot or will not bid anymore out into the suburbs. Social archipelagos have emerged, new cities within the city, all organized in a similar homogenous way: the welfare recipients over here, the art scene over there, a migrant neighborhood somewhere else. Read more

In the exhibition at n.b.k., curated by Marius Babias, Arno Brandlhuber transformed the exhibition space into an insular urban landscape made of concrete (with various additional substances) using elements from previous exhibitions: Karin Sander’s drillings (2011) served as openings for the pouring concrete and Olafur Elliason’s Forever Lamp (2011) from the exhibition The Future Archive (2012) by Ute Meta Bauer provided the lighting. The exhibition was accompanied by a series of events including the discussion panel “The City in the City—Berlin: A Green Archipelago today” with Arthur Ovaska and Florian Hertweck, a city walk with the mayor of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Frank Schulz, and a music performance by Ronald and Robert Lippok (Ornament & Verbrechen).
At KOW Gallery, daily readings from the Green Archipelago took place, and the hosting architectural project 0113 Brunnenstrasse 9, including the gallery KOW, formerly located in the same building, were discussed based on their accessibility and critical faculty. Designed as an economical building and gallery model for heterogeneous interests of use, it has been one of those center islands itself, reinforcing social homogeneity. All parties occupying the building at the time (KOW, editorial board of 032c, and the office of Brandlhuber+) are actors of the cultural industries, attracting others of their kind. For the exhibition, doors and gates of the gallery were unlocked ostentatiously, while the basement was flooded with water and therefore made inaccessible—a retrospect on the former damp ruin on which the new building at Brunnenstraße 9 had been constructed. In the flooded basement, promotional films by the architects of the “Mitte-Wohnpark” were screened, showing upscale residential developments. The contrast between the flooded basement and the latest real estate developments aimed at pointing towards the changes and contrasts in the city. The resonance of the house and its surroundings was transmitted by seismographic sensors through loudspeakers that Mark Bain had installed in the concrete shell. The public discourse on property policy in Berlin is documented in the catalogue 0151.1 Archipel, a reprint of articles from German newspapers. Read less

Category
Exhibition
Place
Berlin
Year
2012
Venue
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), KOW
Collaboration
n.b.k. and KOW with Arno Brandlhuber
Team
Peter Behrbohm, Markus Emde, Tobias Hönig, Markus Rampl, Thomas Burlon; Marius Babias, Kathrin Becker, Wolfgang Fütterer, Sophie Goltz, Sebastian Gündel, Constanze Haas, Leopold Landrichter, Birgit Luther, Susanne Modelsee, Klaus Sagi, Wibke Tiarks (n.b.k.); Johanna Chromik, Alexander Fuchs, Alexander Koch, Nikolaus Oberhuber, Carolin Streller, Sven Weigel (KOW); Carsten Stabenow for Mark Bain (Soundscape Bug)

© Erica Overmeer

© Erica Overmeer

Exhibition at KOW © Brandlhuber+ Team

© Erica Overmeer

© Erica Overmeer

Exhibition at n.b.k. © Brandlhuber+ Team

© Alexander Koch

© Alexander Koch

© Alexander Koch

© Alexander Koch

© Jens Ziehe