VIDEO: Dorte Mandrup-Exile Museum

“I hope that the museum can call attention to the relevance of understanding what it means to be forced into exile.“ Meet Danish architect Dorte Mandrup, who took on the awe-inspiring task of drawing the new Exile Museum placed behind the portico ruin of the historic Berlin train station Anhalter Bahnhof: “It’s hugely relevant today, with more refugees than ever before in the world.”

“It’s a very poignant place to build something. When you hear interviews with former exiled Germans who left Berlin in 1933, they all mention this place. They all mention that they said goodbye to their home and their loved ones at Anhalter Bahnhof,” Mandrup says about the site.

The fragment embodies an essential piece of contemporary European history. As the biggest train station in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, it witnessed Berlin’s buzzing and creative capital and the devastations that followed the rise of Nazism.

“We want to show respect for its history without being sentimental or exaggerating that aspect. We’ll create a space between the new building and the portico to represent both the history and the time that has passed since the train station was demolished,” Mandrup says about the project.

The new Exile Museum aims to tell the stories of those driven into exile during the Second World War while at the same highlighting the fate of the millions of people who are displaced from their homes at this present day, Mandrup explains:

“It’s hugely relevant today with more refugees than ever before in the world. You lose your identity along with your mother tongue and culture. All the features make you who you are and make up your identity. So, I hope that the Exile Museum can call attention to the relevance of understanding what it means to be forced into exile.”

Dorte Mandrup (b. 1961) graduated from the Aarhus School of Architecture, Denmark, in 1991. Eight years later, she founded her Copenhagen-based studio, where she continues to be Creative Director. As a humanist with a distinct nonconformist outlook, Dorte Mandrup is well known for her commitment to the development of the architectural practice and her frequent participation in public debates. She has won numerous awards – the latest of which are: Member of the RIBA Honours Committee 2021, Architect of the Year at ICONIC Awards 2021, Visiting Professor at Mendrisio Accademia di Architettura, Switzerland, AZ Awards 2020 for Environmental Leadership, Canada, Kunstpreis Berlin by the Academy of Arts, Chairwoman of the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Award 2019. In 2018 her Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat, Greenland, was part of the curated international exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia. In 2022 Dorte was elected member of one of Europe’s oldest and most important cultural institutions, Akademie der Künste in Berlin.

Dorte Mandrup was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner, Camera: Simon Weyhe, Edited by Simon Wehye, Music: Simon Dokkedal, Sound Mix: Torsten Larsen, Sound Everest, Color Grade: Klaus Elmer, Produced by Marc-Christoph Wagner & Simon Wehye, © Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2021, Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling. This film is supported by Dreyersfond and Realdania.