The Great Repair

Exhibition venue: Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin
Duration: October 14, 2023 – January 14, 2024
Opening: October 13, 2023, 7 pm, free entrance
Press conference: October 12, 2023, 11 am
School of Repair: October 14, 2023, 11 am – 5 pm
Opening hours: Tue – Fri 2 pm – 7 pm, Sat & Sun 11 am – 7 pm
Admission fee: € 9/6, Admission free up to 18 years, Tuesdays and every first Sunday of the month

Holders of a severely disabled person’s ID (with a degree of disability of 50% or more) and the person accompanying them (eligible with a level “B” indication on the same ID) receive free admission to exhibitions and events.

Intro

The socioecological crisis directly impacts us all. It is no longer solely the concern of environmental activists but permeates everyday life.

Adhering to a growth-driven economic model fuels resource depletion, environmental degradation, and their societal consequences.

Reconciling limitless growth with climate protection verges on the impossible, demanding a transformation of our material culture and the adoption of new forms of coexistence.

Spanning art, architecture, and spatial practices, the 40 positions presented in this exhibition trace the contours of a new design paradigm: The Great Repair.

The exhibition begins with a look at the repair and maintenance of the Akademie der Künste building itself, highlighting the value of care work for the institution.

The showcased practices not only exemplify reparative approaches to artifacts within the built environment but also underscore the need for repair in socioeconomic, geopolitical, and ecological contexts.

The act of repair inevitably reveals what cannot be repaired. Acknowledging these scars and assuming responsibility for ecological damage from colonial entanglements is integral to a great repair as a process of reparation.

Only through the lens of social and ecological justice and equality can we truly approach repair as a collective effort and find new optimism in what has been repaired.

The Great Repair is an oxymoron. The title captures the convergence of two seemingly contradictory principles: the revolutionary ambition for systemic change and the evolutionary act of repair. Despite the justified (postmodern) skepticism toward revolution as a concept of rupture, we must not abandon our aspiration to bring about profound transformation. The philosopher Eva von Redecker formulates this thought along similar lines in this issue:

Two English language issues of ARCH+ Magazine for Architecture and Urbanism are published in collaboration with Spector Books to accompany the exhibition. The first issue (ARCH+ The Great Repair – Politics of the Repair Society, May 2023) serves as a theoretical introduction to the topic, while the second (ARCH+ The Great Repair – A Catalog of Practices) introduces practices of repair and will be published on the occasion of the exhibition’s opening as a catalog.

Often misjudged as set in stone, the everyday is in fact a site of constant renegotiation, and thus resistance and transformation. These processes may take place on a small scale but they are the areas in which global phenomena manifest themselves locally, irrespective of whether we are talking about gender relations, the capitalist mode of production, or the climate crisis. In fact, it is here, in daily life, that societies are (re)produced, and therefore this must be the starting point for action. To overcome the principle of obsolescence as a driving force for our unsustainable mode of production and consumption, we must start by acknowledging the care work that is already being done all around us. Often out of sight, sometimes right in front of our eyes and still overlooked, this indispensable work is rendered invisible by the current valorization system. Yet every day, in mundane and unglamorous areas, our world is being cared for, repaired, and maintained.

Profit-driven capitalism has led to ever swifter cycles of consumption and wastage. In light of the climate crisis and fastdwindling resources, this system, with its insistence on exhaustion and destruction of the existing, has long ceased to be viable. In architecture it is nevertheless still a customary practice under the primacy of the market to simply demolish buildings en masse and build new ones. At the same time, however, the discipline also possesses a specific knowledge of repairing; strategies of repair have always been a core element of architecture’s repertoire. In this view, working with existing buildings, overhauling them, converting them, and extending them can be seen as a strategy to counter obsolescence and to contribute to slowing down the incessant cycle of destruction and new production. The order of the day is to nurture what already exists and to treat it with care. 

In the midst of multiple planetary crises, it is an irrefutable fact that we need to repair and rebuild our world. However, it is not a singular “World” that we will be maintaining, but rather manifold worlds of tangible and intangible relations which exist in a complex simultaneity. A great repair endeavor therefore requires a plurality of scholarship, wisdom, and expertise. Yet, through colonialism and the spread of capitalism, a whole raft of  knowledge worlds and ways of relating to the world were repressed, marginalized, and lost. This loss includes knowledge about sustainable land use, materials extraction, and building techniques. To reappropriate the tools necessary to build better worlds, we must question canonical knowledge and the modes of its production. This process inherently requires decolonizing institutions and pluralizing the constellation of actors involved. 

From a Marxist point of view, the concentration of the means of production is one of the main reasons for exploitation and alienation in capitalism. While the alienation of the workers from the products they produce for the profit of others is selfevident, the alienation of the consumer results from the lack of knowledge of how the things they use are constructed, maintained, and repaired. In this system, goods are replaceable commodities, destined for the landfill. To counter this commodification and the resulting ecological and social destructions, we need to reappropriate the tools of repair. With these crafts, techniques, and knowledge in hand, we can redesign our relationships within the social and natural environment and reembed the production in the contexts needed for their reproduction. This is what architect Yoshiharu Tsukamoto from Atelier Bow-Wow meant when he formulated the slogan: “Tools to the People!” 

The act of repair always also reveals what cannot be repaired. One cannot return to an original and undamaged state of a body, object, or building, let alone the planet itself. In this sense, repair begins with acknowledging the irreversibility of destruction. We may rebuild, mend, heal, and overhaul, but we need to embrace the fact that all our efforts to repair will not obscure the material or immaterial wounds. This section brings together works and projects that span multiple temporalities and scales; they seek to keep the scars visible and recollections alive. They cherish our personal and collective memories which might otherwise be erased, co-create expanding archives through design and spatial research tools so that we can rebuild what was demolished, comme morate what we lost, and discover new meaning in what was repaired. 

The repair of architecture needs to start not from its objects, but rather its subjects—students, teachers, workers—and their relationship to the discipline itself. The office, the school, and the construction site—where conditions and agencies of architectural labor and knowledge are shaped and negotiated—are some of the most important domains for disciplinary self-repair. What is needed are toolkits for empowering and organizing architectural workers in their struggle for fairer employment conditions, pedagogical experiments that challenge power hierarchies in education and complicate the notion of authorship, and visions for architectural practices that are built on notions of collective care and solidarity. Reaching beyond these institutions, the projects in this section also show how architects increasingly subvert the existing self-image of their profession as the experts in charge of building ever more. 

The social and ecological impacts of spatial production geared to growth, land speculation, and predatory exploitation of resources are devastating: Entire sections of land are destroyed and consumed by settlements, with a concomitant rise in traffic volume, while living space becomes increasingly unaffordable. From the viewpoint of climate policy, the call for even more new buildings leads us into a cul-de-sac. The production of space must therefore be fundamentally rethought. It must develop instruments for redistributing space, and these will include: maintaining and nurturing what already exists, redesigning the legacy of cities designed for cars and mass consumerism in a sustainable and socially just way, as well as using renewable and locally sourced materials where conversion work or new construction is necessary. 

Guided exhibition tours: € 3 plus exhibition ticket

Regular guided tours (from Oct. 17, except Dec. 26, 2023)

Every Tuesday, 5 p.m.

in German language

Curators’ Tours (from Oct. 15, except Dec. 24 & 31, 2023)

Every Sunday, 2 p.m.

in German language, except for December 10, which will be in English language

Inclusive Tour with Translations into German Sign Language for Deaf Guests 

Nov. 5., 2023, 2 p.m.

Dec. 5., 2023, 5 p.m.

Inclusive Guided Tours for Blind and Visually Impaired Guests 

Nov. 7., 2023, 5:30 p.m.

Dec. 7., 2023, 5:30 p.m.

in German language

In collaboration with The Great Repair, KUNSTWELTEN, the Akademie der Künste’s educational program, develops independent formats for children and young adults. Based on the issues adressed in the exhibition, participants will be introduced to practices of repair as they relate to their everyday world in weekly workshops. Interactive and curatorial tours as well as inclusive events will draw in visitors of all ages. Members of the Akademie der Künste and their guests will offer participants the opportunity to reflect on the topics of sufficiency, repair, longevity, and land use, and invite them to try out new approaches. Participating artists include Fritz Frenkler, Annett Gröschner, Folke Köbberling, Marcel Neudeck, Friederike Meese, Alfred Peter, Mike Schlaich, and Jordis Schlösser. In cooperation with Haus der Materialisierung and NochMall, the BSR-run department store. Funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education.

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria – Development of a Conservation Management Plan

Filmscreening: Scenes from the Most Beautiful Campus in Africa by Zvi Efrat

Panel discussion

with: Bayo Amole (Professor of Architecture, OAU, Ile-Ife); Fabian Brenne and Janna Lipsky (Brenne Architekten); Babatunde E. Jaiyeoba (Professor of Architecture, OAU, Ile-Ife); Annette Schryen (Project coordination Conservation Management Plan ,OAU); Adekunle Adeyemo (Gerda Henkel PhD scholarship, OAU, Ile-Ife)
Moderation: Christian Hiller (co-curator The Great Repair, ARCH+)

Shortly after Nigeria gained independence, the University of Ife was founded in 1961. Bauhaus student Arieh Sharon together with Nigerian architects such as A. A. Egbor created a unique architectural ensemble of postcolonial tropical modernism. Today the Conservation Management Plan by Brenne Architects represents an important step toward the preservation of the campus and its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In English language, admission €6/4

Lecture by Mierle Laderman Ukeles; Presenter: Bettina Knaup

For the closing of the exhibition on January 14, 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.

In German and English language, admission € 6/4

6:30 p.m. Admittance

7. p.m., Studio: Opening and introductory remarks by Kathrin Röggla (Vice President of the Akademie der Künste), Johanna M. Keller (Program Officer of the Akademie der Künste), Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska (Artistic Director of the German Federal Cultural Foundation) and a moderated panel with the curators: Florian Hertweck, Christian Hiller, Markus Krieger, Milica Topalović, Alex Nehmer, Anh-Linh Ngo, Felix Hofmann, Nazlı Tümerdem, Marija Marić

7:45 p.m., Studio, studio foyer, exhibition halls: Performance SULLE SPONDE / AdK Berlin by FORWARD DANCE COMPANY by LOFFT – DAS THEATER in collaboration with Alessandro Schiattarella and Goethe-Institut

9 p.m., Studio foyer, DJ sets by Maria Lisogorskaya (Assemble) & FRZNTE

In English language, free admission

Participants of the Performance SULLE SPONDE / AdK Berlin

CONCEPT Gustavo Fijalkow und Alessandro Schiattarella

CHOREOGRAPHY Alessandro Schiattarella
BY + WITH Elsa Artmann, Elina Brams Ritzau, Alfred Quarshie, Tamara Rettenmund, Alessandro Schiattarella, Lisa Zocher
DRAMATURGY Gustavo Fijalkow
MUSIC Pável Aguilar und Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowski
COSTUME DESIGN Giulia Marcotullio
ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE Alice Giuliani
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR FDC Gustavo Fijalkow
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT FDC Alissa Sebri
ADMINISTRATION FDC Verena Strasser and Rieke Weber

PHOTOS Giorgio Schirato / Goethe Institut

On Saturday, October 14, over 30 different artists, architects, and spatial practitioners will host the School of Repair at Akademie der Künste: an all-day program of workshop discussions and roundtables in the context of The Great Repair. In workshop talks, exhibition participants will present their contribution as well as their general practice, and discuss the politics and practices of repair together with the attending guests. Different roundtables address various aspects of the necessary transition to a repair society.

In German and English (and partially Spanish) language. Admission with exhibition ticket.

Awaska Alpa: A Hands-on Moment Connected to the Andean Amazon

Workshop

11 a.m.–1 p.m.

Solar Garden, Hall 2

with: Liliana Armero, Santiago del Hierro, Freider Legarda, Viviana Jacanamejoy, Jean Mutumbajoy

In the morning, representatives of the Inga People of Colombia and Santiago del Hierro will host a weaving workshop to create a collective cartography: Participants will be asked to share “their territory” by expressing it as an input to the common fabric, weaving together a plurality of perspectives. Guests are welcome to participate regardless of their expertise; spectators are transformed into creators, allowing the exhibition space to be shared in a novel way.

Repairing the Irreparable: After the Earthquake (EN)

Roundtable

11:00 a.m.–1 p.m.
Clubraum

with: Nilgün Yelpaze, Eray Çaylı, Merve Bedir, Nazlı Tümerdem (moderator)

In the context of a post-disaster geography⸺such as the parts of Turkey and Syria devastated by earthquakes in 2023⸺any endeavor of repair becomes particularly challenging, if not entirely unattainable. Even more so, as this geography and its racialized communities have been burdened by decades of unrest and violence, and at the same time governed by undemocratic states unwilling or unable to put their residents’ safety first. While this disaster had a cataclysmic impact on an area half the size of Germany, it also crystallized ingrained sociopolitical and socioecological entanglements of the region. By engaging key aspects of the exhibition, including (re)construction, demolition, waste, and solidarity, this roundtable asks what these aspects of repair might mean through the lens of the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes.

Collective Rope Chair Weaving (ES/EN/DE)

Workshop

2–5 p.m.

Solar Garden
with: Liliana Armero, Santiago del Hierro, Viviana Jacanamejoy, Freider Legarda, Jean Mutumbajoy, Markus Krieger (ARCH+), Roswitha Kötz (Akademie der Künste)

To continue the collaboration of the morning’s weaving workshop, various exhibition participants convene with visitors in the afternoon of the School of Repair to contribute to the intervention on the second-floor patio at Akademie der Künste. Participants will “learn the ropes” of weaving to create parts of the seating based on a 1952 design by Riki Watanabe for Atelier Bow-Wow’s Solar Garden. Ropes from Berlin forming the weft will be interwoven with warp threads made of rope from Colombia, brought here by representatives of the Inga community, forming the armchair’s seat. This collaboration between Santiago del Hierro, representatives of the Inga community of Colombia, and Atelier Bow-Wow is complemented by inputs from exhibition designer Roswitha Kötz and The Great Repair co-curator Markus Krieger.

Tools of Repair – Worte, Körper, Städte: ein Glossar für die Diversität (EN)

Workshop

2–3:30 p.m.
Clubraum

with: Goethe-Institut, Museo delle Periferie Rome, Alessandro Schiattarella

Tools of Repair is the first chapter in the series Words, Bodies, Cities: A Glossary for Diversity, focusing on the concept of care. Produced in collaboration with Goethe-Institut, Museo delle Periferie Rome, and the choreographer Alessandro Schiattarella, the workshop focuses on hands as tools of repair. In a world grappling with issues of sustainability, Tools of Repair explores values such as listening, solidarity, reappropriation, plurality, and caring as essential elements of a repair society, offering a space for reflection on and engagement with these notions in the context of the broader topics addressed by the exhibition. The workshop begins with a short warm-up session to prepare participants for physical exercise. Clothing is casual and comfortable, and the workshop is open to people with or without previous experience of movement. Tools of Repair prioritizes accessibility, welcoming people with and without disabilities.

Practice Repair (EN)

Roundtable

4–5 p.m.
ReparierBar, Upper foyer

with: Alfie Gee & Reishin Watabe (UVW-SAW), Ana Miljački (Critical Broadcasting Lab, MIT), George Massoud & Paloma Gormley (Material Cultures), Amy Faith Perkins (Assemble), Oliver Burch (ZAS*), Nazlı Tümerdem & Marija Marić (moderators)

If we want a project like that of The Great Repair to be successful, we need to start by recognizing the brokenness of how we teach, learn, and practice our own discipline. From the classroom to the office, and from the construction site to sites of resource extraction, building practices are still far too often shaped by (self-)exploitation, power asymmetries, and inequality. Therefore, they are some of the most important arenas for repairing the practice. This roundtable discussion centers around the question of the agency of students, teachers, and architectural workers in creating a more just and caring professional community, and thus a more equitable and ecological future.

Workshop talks

Exhibition halls

11:15–12 a.m.

Jonathan Banz – Mapping Ukraine: Building amidst Destruction (DE)

Bettina Knaup – Mierle Laderman Ukeles: Manifesto for Maintenance Art, 1969! / Touch Sanitation Performance (DE)

Folke Köbberling – Cars into Bicycles (DE)

Ana Miljački (Collective Architecture Studio) – Balls for All (EN)

12:15–1 p.m.

Hans Hortig – In the Shadow of the Palms (DE)

Zara Pfeifer – Kleine Reinigungs- und Dienstleistungsgesellschaft Bildessay (DE)

Alfie Gee, Reishin Kunishima Watabe (UVW-SAW) – The Office (EN)

ZAS* – Triemli Files (DE)

2–2:45 p.m.

Natasha Aruri, Mai Al-Battat, Andreas Brück – Takhayali [imagine, feminine] Ein Qiniya! (EN)

Brenne Architekten – Materialprobenarchiv (DE)

Amy Perkins, Camille Sineau (Assemble) – Methods of Assembly (EN)

Kathrin Dörfler, Lidia Atanasova, Julia Ohlmeyer – Diversifying Construction (DE) 

3–3:45 p.m.

Bas Princen – Giotto’s Fragments / Earth Pillar / Djenné Mosque (EN)

Sarah Nichols, Akshar Gajjar, Marion Moutal – Concrete – Cosmetic and Care (EN)

Marjetica Potrč – The Rights of a River (EN)

Summer Islam, George Massoud, Paloma Gormley (Material Cultures) – Paludiculture Construction Fragments (EN)

4–4:45 p.m.

Architecture of Territory, ETH Zürich – Power to the People (EN)

Matthias Brenner – CLA (DE)

Florian Hertweck – After Parking / Repairing a Commercial Zone (DE)

Press conference: Oct 12, 2023, 11 a.m., Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, Berlin

Contact ARCH+: Barbara Schindler, schindler(at)archplus.net, +49 30 34046719

Contact Academy of Arts: Press and Public Relations, presse(at)adk.de, +49 30 20057-1514

Curators: Florian Hertweck, Christian Hiller, Markus Krieger, Alex Nehmer, Anh-Linh Ngo, Milica Topalović

Curatorial Assistants: Marija Marić, Nazlı Tümerdem

Production management: Felix Hofmann

Team: Elke Doppelbauer, Nora Dünser, Mirko Gatti, Daniel Kuhnert, Arno Löbbecke, Victor Lortie, Mona Rauch, Lea Scherer, Barbara Schindler, Finn Steffens

Partners: Akademie der Künste, Berlin; Departement für Architektur, ETH Zürich; Faculté des Sciences Humaines, Universität Luxemburg

Participants: Assemble, Atelier Bow-Wow with Schlaich Bergermann Partner, Kader Attia, Brenne Architekten with Jana Hainbach / TU München / HfBK Dresden / Akademie der Künste Baukunstarchiv, Matthias Brenner, Center for Spatial Technologies, Manuel Chavajay, Collective Architecture Studio & Ana Miljački, Collective Works, Agnes Denes, Kathrin Dörfler & Lidia Atanasova, Edit, Haus für Poesie with Hinemoana Baker, Don Mee Choi, Tim Holland, hn. lyonga, Katharina Schultens, Studio Anna Heringer, Florian Hertweck & Caroline Faber & Marija Marić & Céline Zimmer / Master Architektur Universität Luxemburg, Manuel Herz Architects, Hans Hortig with Tang Wei, Inga Community in Columbia with Santiago del Hierro, Interboro with Center for Justice Innovation & Patterson Houses NeighborhoodStat Team & Richard A. Chance & Coco McPherson, Kleine Reinigungs- und Dienstleistungsgesellschaft, Bettina Knaup, Folke Köbberling & Martin Kaltwasser, Lacaton & Vassal, Silke Langenberg, Limbo Accra, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Mapping Ukraine ETH Zürich, Material Cultures, Fuminori Nousaku & Mio Tsuneyama, Zara Pfeifer, Marjetica Potrč, Bas Princen, Sakiya, Alexander Stumm, Takhayali, Paulo Tavares, THEMA (Sarah Nichols, Akshar Gajjar, Marion Moutal) with Syn Liu, Milica Topalović / Architecture of Territory ETH Zürich, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, UVW-SAW, Michael Wolf, ZAS*

With special thanks to: Bauhaus Erde & Experimental, Johannes Odenthal, Mike Schlaich, Stephan Arendt / Schlaich Bergermann Partner