Sturm der Ruhe. What is Architecture?

Opening: Wednesday, October 10, 2001, 6:00 P.M.
Opening hours: Daily 10:00 A.M. – 7:00 P.M.

The opening exhibition “Sturm der Ruhe. What is Architecture?” at the new Architekturzentrum Wien has a deliberately programmatic message. An institution that is dedicated to the mediation and propagation of architecture has to question its own role at a time when it is repositioning itself.

The points of departure here are situations and buildings that at first glance are not really architecture at all, they are apparently casual solutions that are nevertheless possessed of an intrinsically high degree of conceptual competence. The nothing is not merely nothing – the personal and physical experiences of new architecture develop from scratch in terms of their utilisation in the media.

Guided Tours:
Special guided tours within the scope of our partner-program !

Information:
Ulrike Kahr-Haele
Phone: ++43 1 522 31 15 Ext. 23
E-Mail: press@azw.at

Sponsored by:
Stadtplanung Wien
Wien Kultur
Kunst Bundeskanzleramt
Arch+Ing, W, NÖ, B
Zumtobel Staff

Press Release

Presspreview: Wednesday, October 10, 2001, 11:00 A.M.
Opening: Wednesday, October 10, 2001, 6:00 P.M.
Exhibition: Thursday, October 11, 2001 through Monday, March 04, 2002
Opening hours: Daily 10:00 A.M. – 07:00 P.M.

Guided Tours: Special guided tours within the scope of our partner-program !

Tickets: 7.00.- EUR (96,32 ATS) / 4.50.- EUR (61,92 ATS)

Press / Information:
Ulrike Kahr-Haele
P ++43 1 522 31 15 – 23
F ++43 1 522 31 17
E-Mail: press@azw.at

The opening exhibition at the new Architekturzentrum Wien has a deliberately programmatic message. An institution that is dedicated to the mediation and propagation of architecture has to question these very mechanisms at a time when it is repositioning itself.

Architecture exhibitions always tend to present documentation and allude to existing buildings. This capability to represent the permanently absent is treated thematically in “Sturm der Ruhe. What is Architecture?” and new possibilities for mediation are sought.

Why “Sturm der Ruhe. What is Architecture?”

“Work on the theme for this opening exhibition has been very intense, and we initially started out by doing research into contemporary minimalism. Not just in architecture, but also in the visual arts and lifestyles. The issue was not, however, either one of form or style, but why these kinds of reduced spaces exercise so much fascination. This led to the question of the perception and the spatial experience as the spectacular, even the minimalist spectacular, often do not permit an experience beyond the moment of astonishment. The mediation of architecture lies like a waterproof foil over the objects concerned. The market demands sensations and asks no further for actual qualities. So we wanted to create an awareness of architectural qualities in and around the unspectacular. Hence the title: “Sturm der Ruhe. What is Architecture?”
Dietmar M. Steiner

What is “Sturm der Ruhe. What is Architecture?”

The subject matter of the exhibition is situations and buildings that do not reveal any architectural intention to the layperson. They are apparently and genuinely casual solutions that nevertheless generate moods and an atmosphere.

The nothing is not merely nothing – the personal and physical experiences of new architecture develop from scratch in terms of their utilisation in the media. Projects that appear cool and smooth in most publications open up entirely new sensual parameters when viewed differently. The visitor should be able to experience the abstract architectural facets such as the mood, the atmosphere, the smell, awareness, the traces of usage or the space’s tactile qualities. In the exhibition “Sturm der Ruhe. What is Architecture?” around 30 such situations are being presented in different forms.

– Videos specially commissioned for the exhibition by Larry Bercow, Elfie Semotan, Anita Witek and Gregor Neuerer, among others, present individual perceptions of architectural situations.

– Photographic projects by David Franck, Jeremy Edwards, Raimund Abraham / Josef Dapra, Fi McGhee, Bas Princen, Sissi Farassat and others show the intrinsic conceptual, structural and everyday potential of spaces by going beyond classical architecture photography.

– Models, building materials and drawings that do not show the preparatory steps behind the architecture on a small scale, but the density of concepts and ideas behind the design and the material manifestation of what is built.

– Alongside anonymous pieces of architecture there are projects to be found by, among others, Kurt Kappa-Kocherscheidt, Adolf Loos, Heinz Frank, Herzog & de Meuron, Haus-Rucker-Co, Cukrowicz + Nachbaur, Morger & Degelo / Christian Kerez, Gigon + Guyer, Dominique Perrault, Lacaton & Vassal, Thomas Bernhard, Gluckman Mayner Architects, John Pawson, Donald Judd, Adolf Krischanitz, Gerhard Merz, Diener + Diener and Riegler & Riewe.

The exhibition space

One of the most distinguished architectural exercises is the generation of well-being, mood and atmosphere. This notion is pursued by Eichinger oder Knechtl in their design for the exhibition space in the New Hall of the Architekturzentrum Wien. The entire space – the floor, the walls and the ceiling – is covered in one single colour. The individual thematic groups are presented in eight booths. Forming a central element is a large screen showing a 60 minute video montage by Eichinger oder Knechtl based on the videos commissioned specially for the exhibition.

The catalogue

Forming a significant contribution to the exhibition, a catalogue accompanies the view of architecture presented in the exponents with a collection of previously published texts including interviews with architects, theoretical essays on international architecture, art and culture, as well as philosophical entries from a diary. An independent section of images is dedicated to the official illustration of the architecture presented by the media. Used in conjunction with a tour of the exhibition, the catalogue will provide an exciting supplement to the representation of the architecture on show.

Texts by:
Marc AugZ, Gernot Bshme, Diller & Scofidio, Gigon + Guyer, Herzog & de Meuron, Donna Harraway, K. Michael Hays, Rosalind Krauss, Michelle Murphy, John Pawson, Merleau Ponty, Mark Rakatansky, Bruno Reichlin, Michel Serres, Martin Steinmann, Wilfried Wang and others.

The catalogue is being published by Pustet Verlag in English and German. The graphic design for the catalogue is by Martha Stutteregger, who created the concept for the 80 Tage Wien architecture festival and designed the new graphic interface for the MUMOK SLW museum of modern art in collaboration with Florian Pumhssel. 348 pages, 70 illustrations

Concept:
Dietmar M. Steiner, Kerstin Gust, Johannes Porsch