Through a shifted perspective, we navigate the neglected spaces of the former animal testing facility at Mäusebunker and the adjacent forest and nature reserve. Only a few meters apart, both spaces are products of a divided vision of the world, one where nature and culture do not merge. Both places are no longer accessible to humans. In the case of the bunker, all walls and doors are sealed to protect “us” from its potential toxic air, whereas the nature reserve is fenced to protect it from “us”— humans. While the now-abandoned Mäusebunker holds the memory and echoes of countless lost lives, the building and its surrounding open up a possibility to reimagine our relationship with all non-human cohabitants. Standing on these divided grounds, how can we envision future spaces of coexistence?
This research and the video installation were part of the “Festival for Urban Wellbeing around the Mäusebunker”, curated by Urbane Praxis e.V.
This research and the video installation were part of the “Festival for Urban Wellbeing around the Mäusebunker”, curated by Urbane Praxis e.V.
september 2024
Mäusebunker, Steglitz (Germany)
video installation
Mäusebunker, Steglitz (Germany)
video installation
[version française en bas de la page]
In den 1960er Jahren wurde Ivry-sur-Seine - ein Vorort im Südosten von Paris - Schauplatz eines außergewöhnlichen sozialen Wohnungsbaus, in dem die Architektin und Stadtplanerin Renée Gailhoustet zusammen mit Jean Renaudie eine Architektur entwarf, die tief in den sozialistischen Werten des gemeinschaftlichen Lebens und der sozialen Gerechtigkeit verankert ist.
Um das Leben des Viertels und seiner Bewohner*innen zu erfassen, entstand, in Zusammenarbeit mit den lokalen Initiativen Jardin à tous les étages (Ivry) & Arch'Ivry, im Mai 2023 eine künstlerische Dokumentation des Lebens in Ivry-Sur-Seine. Der Schwerpunkt der Untersuchung lag auf den verschiedenen Formen von “care”, die die Bewohner*innen dieser besonderen Architektur entgegenbringen.
Durch Workshops, Besuche und informelle Momente der Geselligkeit sammelten wir die Geschichten, Geheimnisse und persönlichen Erfahrungen der BewohnerInnen von Ivry, die wir in drei fiktive Geschichten einwebten, die alltägliche - aber unkonventionelle - Praktiken im Zusammenhang mit der Stadt beschreiben.
Die 3-Kanal-Videoinstallation “Ivry-Affaires” wurde für die Projektion im öffentlichen Raum im Atrium des Centre Jeanne Hachette (Ivry-sur-Seine) konzipiert, wo sie im September 2023 gezeigt wurde. “Ivry-Affaires” wurde auch in Berlin im Haus der Statistik (Oktober 2023) und im Rahmen der Ausstellung Under Pressure (September 2024) gezeigt.
sept.-okt. 2023,
Ivry-sur-Seine (France)
3-kanal video installation im öffentlichen raum
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Ivry-sur-Seine (France)
3-kanal video installation im öffentlichen raum
“Ivry-Affaires” est le résultat d’une résidence de 3 semaines à Ivry-sur-Seine, où nous avons travaillé en étroite collaboration avec les associations Ivryennes jardins à tous les étages et Arch'Ivry en Mai 2023.
À travers des ateliers, des visites et des moments informels de convivialité, nous avons recueilli les histoires, les secrets et les expériences personnelles des habitant·e·s d’Ivry, que nous avons tissés dans 3 histoires fictives décrivant des pratiques quotidiennes - mais non conventionnelles - liées à la ville.
Le résultat est l’installation vidéo à trois canaux “Ivry Affaires”, qui fut montrée dans l'espace public du Centre Jeanne Hachette d’Ivry au cours des journées du Patrimoine (16.09.2023) ainsi qu’à Berlin en Septembre 2023 et Septembre 2024. Le but de cette installation est de transmettre des impressions, de déclencher l'imagination et de créer un lien entre deux métropoles Européennes confrontées à des défis similaires en termes de développement urbain.
À travers des ateliers, des visites et des moments informels de convivialité, nous avons recueilli les histoires, les secrets et les expériences personnelles des habitant·e·s d’Ivry, que nous avons tissés dans 3 histoires fictives décrivant des pratiques quotidiennes - mais non conventionnelles - liées à la ville.
Le résultat est l’installation vidéo à trois canaux “Ivry Affaires”, qui fut montrée dans l'espace public du Centre Jeanne Hachette d’Ivry au cours des journées du Patrimoine (16.09.2023) ainsi qu’à Berlin en Septembre 2023 et Septembre 2024. Le but de cette installation est de transmettre des impressions, de déclencher l'imagination et de créer un lien entre deux métropoles Européennes confrontées à des défis similaires en termes de développement urbain.
mit der Unterstützung von dem Projekt für Bildende Kunst des Goethe Instituts
LONG LIVE URANIA!
The highrise at Urania 4-10 – property of the State of Berlin and a building by Werner Düttmann – was demolished in the summer of 2024. One year before, we founded the initiative an.ders Urania to urge for the preservation of the building.
The Building Council and the Round Table for Real Estate Policy had advocated examining the reuse of the building with a feasibility study, but neither the Senate nor the BIM were commissioning this study.
As architects, structural engineers, urban planners, ... we got together and proposed a feasibility study - from below! Together we proved that this building could have been tranformed instead of being demolished.
More information ︎︎︎
The highrise at Urania 4-10 – property of the State of Berlin and a building by Werner Düttmann – was demolished in the summer of 2024. One year before, we founded the initiative an.ders Urania to urge for the preservation of the building.
The Building Council and the Round Table for Real Estate Policy had advocated examining the reuse of the building with a feasibility study, but neither the Senate nor the BIM were commissioning this study.
As architects, structural engineers, urban planners, ... we got together and proposed a feasibility study - from below! Together we proved that this building could have been tranformed instead of being demolished.
More information ︎︎︎
DEMONSTRATION
Saturday 23 March 2024 - 3pm | an der Urania 4-10, 10787 Berlin (Maplink)
as part of the civil organisation an.ders Urania we call for the immediate cancelation of the planned demolition of the building An Der Urania 4-10.
Berlin will not achieve its climate goals if the emissions caused by the construction sector are not drastically minimised. Nevertheless, demolitions and the construction of new buildings still prevail over the preservation of existing buildings.
We have been fighting for months to preserve the high-rise building Urania 4-10, which belongs to the state of Berlin. Yet bulldozers have been ordered to start the demolition in April. Together with a broad alliance, we renew our call on the Senate: Stop this demolition immediately! Preserve the highrise Urania 4-10! Turn it into a model project for conversion! As long as the structure stands, it is still possible to stop the demolition!
JOIN US ON THE STREETS !
contributors: initiative an.ders Urania | Architects 4 Future
AfA - Aktiv für Architektur | Urbane Praxis eV
ZusammenKUNFT Berlin e.G. | Deutsche Umwelthilfe | Architekt:innenkammer Berlin
more infos ︎︎︎
Demolitions trigger displacement. Since demolitions often happen quietly, without prior notice, it is difficult to form alliances against them. The climate crisis calls for a radical change in the way we deal with the existing building stock. The understanding of seeing every existing resource as a value and treating it with care is missing.
The project "Visitig Abriss" documents perspectives on demolition practices. Visiting means for us an on-site research and to include the perspective of different protagonists involved: neighbors, users, and in this case sex workers, construction workers of the demolition company and the investor who contracts the demolition.
The project fusioned into a performative demonstration against these demolitions in february of 2023; the focus is set on three buildings in Kurfürstenstraße threatened by demolition.
february 2023
performance demonstration against demolitions and shop window exhibition
February 25th 2023
Demonstration
We say: Down with Demolition in Berlin! Rebuild instead. Save the buildings that are already here!
Speeches by Bündnis Leerstand Haab-ich-Saath, Architects 4 Future, Initiative Hermannplatz, Kiezpalaver Schöneberg und dem Berliner Mieterverein
February 23th - 27th 2023
SHOP WINDOW EXHIBITION
temporary exhibition exploring the topic of demolition on different levels.
Shown in the shop window of the M&M Backshop in the LSD building, Potsdamer Str. 172, 10783 Berlin.
Visible 24/7 from outside.
urban fragment observatory
mit der Unterstützung von:
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mit der Unterstützung von:
MACHT KAPUTT WAS EUCH KAPUTT MACHT
Still functioning buildings are frequently subject to demolition, to be replaced by more profitable, denser structures. Buildings from the 1970s are particularly affected. Their disappearance from the cityscape was our call to action to produce this experimental shor film against demolitions: A truck driver is preparing to drive over porcelain cups, the administration worker that has to permit the demolition is loosing control, all the while the investors play bowling. Screened first onto the façade of the building An der Urania 4-10 in Berlin, at that time prepared to be demolished, an accompanied by a performance demonstration against the demolition, the short film was subsequently shown on differen façades of buildings on the edge of being demolished.
oct. 2022 - feb. 2023
short film 08:20 min.
several façade projections
Image de Ville Festival
MACHT KAPUTT WAS EUCH KAPUTT MACHT
at DELPHI SPACE, FREIBURG
April 2023
"Energie:Energeia" exhibition program
in the DELPHI_space/außenstelle in Freiburg
Three buildings in Freiburg's Europaviertel are threatened
with demolition. Appartments, studios, rehearsal rooms,
offices and one of the few brownfield sites are to make way
for more profitable planning.
Together with initiatives from Germany and Switzerland,
the topic of energy consumption in architecture was discussed.
What is the value of installed energy in connected buildings?
What socio-political energy is needed for a climate and socially
just construction turnaround?
at DELPHI SPACE, FREIBURG
April 2023
"Energie:Energeia" exhibition program
in the DELPHI_space/außenstelle in Freiburg
Three buildings in Freiburg's Europaviertel are threatened
with demolition. Appartments, studios, rehearsal rooms,
offices and one of the few brownfield sites are to make way
for more profitable planning.
Together with initiatives from Germany and Switzerland,
the topic of energy consumption in architecture was discussed.
What is the value of installed energy in connected buildings?
What socio-political energy is needed for a climate and socially
just construction turnaround?
MACHT KAPUTT WAS EUCH KAPUTT MACHT
at HALLO KIOSK, HAMBURG
August 2024
Protest model building workshop and film screening,
HALLO KIOSK, Hamburg
The fight against gentrification in the
east of Hamburg includes the preservation
of existing buildings. The yellow brick
building that houses the HALLO e.V. kiosk is
just as threatened with demolition as the
Bille power station next door.
MACHT KAPUTT WAS EUCH KAPUTT MACHT
at “Profitopolis” Museum der Dinge, Berlin
23.05.2024-28.02.2025
“Profitopolis or the Condition of the City” presents historical and contemporary objects, as well as documents of urban initiatives. They are supplemented with artistic works by Daniela Brahm, Mirja Busch, Martin Kaltwasser, Wenke Seemann, Tracey Snelling, ufo ufo – urban fragment observatory and the ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics.
The Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge is marking the situation – namely the termination of its tenancy in Kreuzberg by a real estate fund and its enforced relocation – with its first special exhibition on the theme of the city.
at “Profitopolis” Museum der Dinge, Berlin
23.05.2024-28.02.2025
“Profitopolis or the Condition of the City” presents historical and contemporary objects, as well as documents of urban initiatives. They are supplemented with artistic works by Daniela Brahm, Mirja Busch, Martin Kaltwasser, Wenke Seemann, Tracey Snelling, ufo ufo – urban fragment observatory and the ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics.
The Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge is marking the situation – namely the termination of its tenancy in Kreuzberg by a real estate fund and its enforced relocation – with its first special exhibition on the theme of the city.
MACHT KAPUTT WAS EUCH KAPUTT MACHT
at Image de Ville Festival, Aix en Provence
19.11.2023
carte blanche
La jeune génération d’architectes berlinois rêve, imagine, crée et lutte à travers le cinéma pour un futur urbain écologique et socialement juste.
Le collectif dévoile ses méthodes de travail et présente la production d’une nouvelle vague de cinéma architectural à Berlin, réalisée par des architectes et des urbanistes qui repensent leur rôle face aux défis contemporains. Refondant radicalement le discours architectural, ufoufo investit l’espace public, cherche à réunir les publics et s’appuie sur les intelligences et les sensibilités collectives.
at Image de Ville Festival, Aix en Provence
19.11.2023
carte blanche
La jeune génération d’architectes berlinois rêve, imagine, crée et lutte à travers le cinéma pour un futur urbain écologique et socialement juste.
Le collectif dévoile ses méthodes de travail et présente la production d’une nouvelle vague de cinéma architectural à Berlin, réalisée par des architectes et des urbanistes qui repensent leur rôle face aux défis contemporains. Refondant radicalement le discours architectural, ufoufo investit l’espace public, cherche à réunir les publics et s’appuie sur les intelligences et les sensibilités collectives.
Exhibition View, with Filmscreen and Protest Model (c) Schnepp RenouMACHT KAPUTT WAS EUCH KAPUTT MACHT and LSD Protest Model is part of the exhibition Demolition Question & Power to Renovation, DAZ Berlin
14.03. – 18.05.2025
The exhibition THE DEMOLITION QUESTION & POWER TO RENOVATION approaches the all-too-present phenomenon of demolition and its consequences from different perspectives.
14.03. – 18.05.2025
The exhibition THE DEMOLITION QUESTION & POWER TO RENOVATION approaches the all-too-present phenomenon of demolition and its consequences from different perspectives.
“VISITING : Inken Baller &
Hinrich Baller, Berlin 1966-89”
exhibition in Berlin, Hamburg, Kassel and Zurich
In their joint creative period between 1966 and 1989, Inken Baller and Hinrich Baller designed striking buildings in the former West Berlin with an independent, expressive and distinct architectural language. While these buildings polarized the professional world at the time, their projects were loved by Berliners and remain an expression of unconventional housing construction to this day.
The exhibition stages a sensual revisit to the inhabited spaces: recent interior photographs from us show the delicacy and permeability of the spaces, the integration of common areas into the residential buildings and their unusual floor plan solutions. Accompanied by the audio recordings of today’s residents and archival material, the exhibition documents architecture that has been used, lived in and experienced, asking the question of what today’s housing construction can learn from this open understanding of space.
A publication accompanying the exhibition "Visiting Inken Baller and Hinrich Baller, Berlin 1966-89" was published in March 2022 by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König.
> a collection of press reviews about the exhibition and the book can be found here.
2022 – 2024
March 4th - June 20th, 2022
VISITING : Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller, Berlin 1966-89
Exhibition at DAZ (Deutsches Architekturzentrum), Berlin
Incooperation with Deutsches Architekturzentrum and funded by Wüstenrot-Stiftung and Sto-Stiftung.
> more infos on DAZ website.
10.6.2023 - 09.07.2023
VISITING : Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller, Berlin 1966-89
Exhibition at Freie Akademie der Künste in Hamburg
As part of the Hamburger Architektursommer 2023.
In cooperation with the Hamburg Chamber of Architects
Made possible by Hamburger Sympathisanten of the Academy
and supporting member Michael Liebelt.
> more infos on fADK website.
VISITING : Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller, Berlin 1966-89
Exhibition at Freie Akademie der Künste in Hamburg
As part of the Hamburger Architektursommer 2023.
In cooperation with the Hamburg Chamber of Architects
Made possible by Hamburger Sympathisanten of the Academy
and supporting member Michael Liebelt.
> more infos on fADK website.
Mai 20th - June 20th, 2024
VISITING : Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller, Berlin 1966-89
Exhibition at Kunsthochschule Kassel
Inken Baller was appointed the first female professor in the field of architecture, urban and landscape planning at the University of Kassel in 1985. Her early commitment as a woman in an almost entirely male faculty and thus as a pioneer for subsequent female colleagues is given special attention in the exhibition in Kassel.
In cooperation with the chair ARCHITECTURE CITIES ECONOMIES by Gabu Heindl at Uni Kassel.
Funded by Wüstenrot Stiftung, Frauen-und Gleichstellungsbeauftragte des Fachbereichs 06 der Universität Kassel sowie Fachbereichs 06 der Universität Kassel (QSL-Mittel).
> more infos here
12.September - 26. Oktober 2024
VISITING : Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller, Berlin 1966-89
Exhibition at Architekturforum Zürich
In cooperation with and funded by Architekturforum Zürich.
> more infos on AFZ website
VISITING : Inken Baller & Hinrich Baller, Berlin 1966-89
Exhibition at Architekturforum Zürich
In cooperation with and funded by Architekturforum Zürich.
> more infos on AFZ website
supported by:
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“VISITING : Inken Baller &
Hinrich Baller, Berlin 1966-89”
Although most of Inken and Hinrich Baller‘s buildings were developed within the tight constraints of the social housing program in the 1970s and 1980s, they always offer more than the standard: slenderness, lightness, large balconies, complex spatial relationships across mulitple floors, and outdoor green spaces. With their unconventional residential and public buildings, the Ballers‘ creations are today as much as ever examples for high-quality and affordable housing and intriguing urban spaces. During visits with current residents of these buildings, photographs of the lively and lived-in architecture were taken. A collection of archive material, original plans and essays complement these images to present a complete picture of these multifaceted buildings. What can we learn for today‘s housing production from this open understanding of space?
ed. by urban fragment observatory, Berlin 2022. Text von urban fragment observatory, Turit Fröbe & Christian Kloss, 17 x 24 cm, 544 p. with more than 300 pictures and plans, soft cover.
> both English and German editions are sold out
> collection of press reviews about the book here.
ed. by urban fragment observatory, Berlin 2022. Text von urban fragment observatory, Turit Fröbe & Christian Kloss, 17 x 24 cm, 544 p. with more than 300 pictures and plans, soft cover.
> both English and German editions are sold out
> collection of press reviews about the book here.
2019-2022
