ART CITIES: BERLIN-The Great Repair

Against the backdrop of current ecological and societal crises, the exhibition “The Great Repair” presents over 40 positions from art, architecture and spatial practices in which repairing becomes tangible as a new design paradigm. The exhibition, which takes the Akademie’s der Künste building as a starting point, gives visibility to the processes of maintenance and upkeep and the spaces dedicated to this labour. It examines the topic at different scales ranging from the routine work needed to take care of the museum on a daily basis to examples of a building practice that looks to work with the existing stock rather than building anew.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Akademie der Künste Archive

Teaming up with its project partners, the Akademie der Künste, ETH Zürich and the University of Luxembourg, ARCH+ is bringing to Berlin the thematic discussion it initiated as part of the collective curating the German contribution to this year’s Architecture Biennale in Venice. The focus of the project is on the recognition that our current economic system, with its emphasis on innovation, growth and progress, has led to the reckless exploitation of humans and nature. Architecture plays no small part in this development, as is evident from the statistics on greenhouse gas emissions and waste from construction and demolition. Presented in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut, a performance by FORWARD DANCE COMPANY by LOFFT – DAS THEATER and Alessandro Schiattarella will be given in the Akademie spaces on the exhibition’s opening night (13 October).On Saturday, 14 October, the School of Repair will offer an all-day programme of events: some thirty artists will present their work and discuss different approaches to repair with visitors. For the closing of the exhibition on 14 January 2024, the pioneering artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles will speak for the first time in Berlin about her extensive œuvre. Details about the event organized by the Akademie der Künste in collaboration with curator Bettina Knaup will be announced shortly. Two issues of ARCH+ Journal for Architecture and Urbanism will accompany the exhibition. “The Great Repair” is a project of ARCH+ gGmbH in cooperation with the Akademie der Künste, the Department of Architecture at ETH Zürich and the University of Luxembourg’s Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences under the artistic direction of Florian Hertweck, Christian Hiller, Markus Krieger, Alex Nehmer, Anh-Linh Ngo and Milica Topalović. Curatorial assistants: Marija Marić, Nazlı Tümerdem. Production management: Felix Hofmann.

Photo: Main staircase of the Akademie der Künste Hanseatenweg during renovation by Brenne Architekten, © Holger Herschel

Info: Curator Bettina Knaup, Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, Berlin, Germany, Duration: 14/10/2023-14/1/2024, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 14:00-19:00, Sat-sun 11:00-19:00, www.adk.de/