In what kind of built environment do we want to live? It’s a big question, and one which the exhibition Anything Goes? – Berlin Architecture in the 1980s at the Berlinische Galerie attempts to answer. Across six areas, the show combines drawings, models, films and photographs by urban chroniclers like Michael Schmidt and Sibylle Bergemann to present the many facets of the urban planning policies of East and West Berlin. What is often pejoratively summarized as “postmodernism” turns out to be a multifaceted formal language for innovative social housing. At the heart of this was the 1984/87 International Building Exhibition which brought world-famous architects such as Hans Hollein, Rob Krier and Rem Koolhaas to West Berlin. If you look at East Berlin’s 1987 building exhibition for comparison, you see what united the two political systems: an attempt to arrange the city around people and not cars.
The fact that the exhibition never feels aloof or esoteric is thanks to the works that were commissioned for the show. The collective Guerilla Architects offers insights into the houses and the lives of their inhabitants, while artist Isa Melsheimer transfers iconic buildings such as John Hejduk’s Kreuzberg Tower into her gouache paintings and textile works. She presents the city as a collage in which architectures and worlds overlap. The complexity of Berlin is also evident in the accompanying film program, which includes Cycling the Frame by Cynthia Beatt featuring Tilda Swinton as well as experimental documentaries by Ulrike Ottinger and Harun Farocki.
Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Robert Göllner Fotografie-Archiv, 1988; Roman März / Credit: Berlinische Galerie; Isa Melsheimer
Berlinische Galerie – Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst, Fotografie und Architektur, Alte Jakobstr.124-128, 10969 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Anything Goes? – Berlin Architecture in the 1980s, until 16.08.2021, Wed–Mon 10–18h. Free entry on every first Sunday of the month. Tickets can be purchased online.
@berlinischegalerie
