Cities are full of stories – simultaneous, contradictory, overlapping and inseparable. Living the City tells over 50 stories about projects in architecture, art and urban planning in the main hall of the former Berlin Tempelhof airport. The exhibition of the National Urban Development Policy shows from 25 September to 20 December 2020 processes and possibilities for action in cities throughout Europe.
For three months, the former airport is transformed into a scene of urban life. In a walk-in city collage, visitors encounter numerous stories of people and projects who are actively involved in the city and urban society. These stories ask questions about very basic activities such as loving, living, moving, doing, participating, learning, playing, moving and dreaming in the city, stories that move and touch, that make people feel and think. In addition, a varied programme of events and educational activities invites everyone to actively participate.
With contributions from
Assemble (England),
Ila Bêka & Louise Lemoine (Frankreich/Italien),
Planbude (Deutschland),
Jeppe Hein (Dänemark),
Thomas Hirschhorn (Schweiz),
Lacaton & Vassal (Frankreich),
No Shade (International),
Olalekan Jeyifous (Nigeria/Vereinigte Staaten),
Ahmet Öğüt (Türkei),
Rotor DC (Belgien),
Zones Urbaines Sensibles (Niederlande)
and many others.
Curatorial Team
Lukas Feireiss works as curator, artist and author beyond disciplinary boundaries. Tatjana Schneider is professor of architectural theory at the TU Braunschweig. TheGreenEyl translate complex themes into large-scale installations and exhibitions.
Curatorial Statement
On the occasion of Germany‘s EU Council Presidency, an exhibition with Europewide relevance on the topic of urban development will be staged in autumn 2020. It was commissioned by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community. The main hall of the former Berlin-Tempelhof Airport will be transformed into a walk-though urban collage telling a range of city-making stories from across Europe. The partners of the National Urban Development Policy would like to communicate the city as a living space as well as the responsibilities of integrated urban development to a broad public. The exhibition will achieve this with a vivid and lively approach.
In order to communicate all of the diversity, complexity, and even contradictions of the European city, the exhibition deliberately refrains from a unified and simplified narrative. Instead, cities are viewed as the juxtaposition of incredibly diverse stories—simultaneous, contradictory, overlapping, and inextricably connected. These stories come alive through urban inhabitants: in the ways they live and work, in the ways they play and dream. Children, youths, and seniors, with the most diverse desires, hopes, and ways of life. Long-time residents and newcomers. Their experiences differ. They know the city in different ways. But they all take part in city life and thus, more or less directly shape the city. These activities are inscribed in the city and become (hi)stories. They are the accounts of making the city, that speak for themselves in the Living the City exhibition. Exceptionally distinct projects from the fields of architecture, art, and urban planning, as well as objects, artifacts, photography, and film will come together in the monumental main hall of the former Berlin-Tempelhof Airport—itself a place rich with history and stories.
Die von dem Architekturbüro Zones Urbaines Sensibles (ZUS) entworfene Brücke wurde als öffentliche Infrastruktur per Crowdfunding finanziert.
Bildnachweis: Zones Urbaines Sensibles, Luchtsingel, Rotterdam, Seit 2014 © Ossip van Duivenbode
The exhibition reveals processes and opportunities for action in cities. By discussing relationships between the city and people, civil society and politics, economy and nature, an occasion arises to reconsider and renegotiate the city and its production. In this way, the exhibition advocates a playful approach that intends to inspire active participation and involvement in shaping our urban spaces.
Over fifty projects from across Europe ask questions concerning fundamental activities like loving, living, making, participating, learning, playing, moving, and dreaming in the city. The exhibition reveals emotionally and poetically charged stories from across Europe. Stories that shape and transform, that make you feel and think. We are devoted to the stories of cities which—when they are carried out into the city again—are permanently expanded and rewritten.
At the same time, Living the City is an exhibition that creates its own city. Here, in the former terminal hall, the European city emerges as a collage made up of themes and ideas, buildings and processes. For three months, the exhibition, as a walkable urban landscape, will become a central venue for discussions surrounding urban development. Who is building what and where? How and by whom will the future be designed? Who has access to a city’s infrastructure and offers? Diverse narratives, aspirations, and experiences will come alive through the public program of talks, screenings, workshops, performances, temporary studios, an online radio station, and during an international symposium with architecture and art professionals, city planners, politically active citizens, politicians, members of the media, philosophers, as well as researchers from the field.
With its varied program of events and education, the exhibition will be a place of participation and an important cultural contact point for all residents and guests in the city. Living the City is an exhibition that brings the city to life
Lukas Feireiss, Tatjana Schneider, TheGreenEyl
Berlin, June 2020
WHERE? Main Hall of Tempelhof Airport, Platz der Luftbrücke 5, 12101 Berlin-Tempelhof
WHEN? 25 Sept – 20 Dec 2020, Tue 10–20 hrs, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun 12–20 hrs, Thu 12–22 hrs, Mon closed
Tickets: www.tickets.livingthecity.eu
