HOW
SOON
IS
NOW

Galerie Judin
Potsdamer Straße 83
10785 Berlin, Germany
Opening 12 September 6 – 10 pm
Open 13 September – 1 November
Tue to Fri 3 – 6 pm, Sat 11 am – 6 pm
Special opening hours on 19 September:  3 – 10 pm
Admission is free

About

HOW SOON IS NOW – an exhibition by a group of 12 Berlin-based studios of architects, designers and engineers – revisits some themes of the legendary exhibition This Is Tomorrow held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London in 1956.

Given today’s range of contemporary social, economic and ecological issues in combination with the acceleration of technological change, we are positioned in an inclusive and complex time. If yesterday’s tomorrow is not today, how soon is now? What values and possibilities can we imagine with a more speculative approach that is unburdened by the constraints of everyday practice? The exhibition will discuss – through spatial interventions and manifestos – what today’s sensibilities and needs might be and where they might be leading. Speculating in antagonistic collaboration HOW SOON IS NOW – initiated by Frank Barkow, Arno Brandlhuber and Sam Chermayeff – sets up a programme for the future.

 

Galerie Judin
Opening 12 September 6 – 10 pm
Open 13 September – 1 November


Wednesday Talks

As part of the exhibition programme, a series of talks with the participants of HOW SOON IS NOW and invited guests will take place every Wednesday, at 6pm, beginning on the 17th of September and continuing through to the 29th of October. Admission is free.

17.9.2014: with Claudia Perren (architect, curator and critic, Director Bauhaus Dessau Foundation), Mark Wigley (architectural historian and theorist, Columbia University, NYC, Fellow at American Academy Berlin) and Jürgen Mayer H. (J. MAYER H. und Partner)

24.9.2014: “Colors and Catastrophe / Toxic Bourgeoisie” with Georg Diez (journalist and author), Armen Avanessian (philosopher and founder of the research platform Speculative Poetics at the F.U.Berlin) and Pierre Jorge Gonzalez (Gonzalez Haase AAS).

1.10.2014: “Zombification and the New Communal” The city of Berlin has decided to built thousands of new homes in response to an obvious lack of affordable housing. But how should these houses look like? Who are they built for? How can they challenge the ongoing zombification of the city, and react to dramatically changing demographics and life styles? In a time where global crises – such as global warming, and the 2008 mortgage crisis – are  more or less directly linked to problematic dwelling forms, the nuclear family and home now represent the minority (only 25 percent of Berlin’s population are living as families). How can post-nuclear family mass housing become a domain for experimentation and investigation? According to an analysis by UNESCO and the Deutsche Bank, over the next 20 years one billion new dwellings will be needed to house migrants moving to urban centers. Worldwide, 3.4 billion people live in urban agglomerations; the UN predicts that that number will rise to 6.4 billion by 2050. What kinds of structures will house these 3 billion people? What will these these inhabitable units look like be they houses, apartments, or new forms of dwelling? How can new forms of collective dwelling be encouraged?  How can architects reach out and speculate on models that are able to encourage new forms of social living and push the conceptual boundaries of housing? How can one think about social issues in spatial ways, and develop strategies to conceptualize mass housing? How can architecture create private and public realms beyond the usual spatial typologies, redefining the relationship between private and communal?

With Regula Lüscher (Senate Building Director, Berlin), Niklas Maak (architecture and art critic of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Frank Barkow (Barkow Leibinger), Arno Brandlhuber (Brandlhuber+) and Sam Chermayeff (June-14 | Meyer-Grohbrügge & Chermayeff)

8.10.2014: “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?” Discussing the practices of art and architecture: Louisa Hutton and Matthias Sauerbruch (Sauerbruch Hutton) in conversation with Karin Sander (Artist and Professor for Architecture and Art, ETH Zürich) moderated by Philip Ursprung (Professor for History of Art and Architecture, ETH Zürich). With the generous support of Brillux and Zumtobel.

Information on further events coming soon.

Info

Galerie Judin
Potsdamer Straße 83
10785 Berlin, Germany
Opening 12 September 6 – 10 pm
Open 13 September – 1 November
Tue to Fri 3 – 6 pm, Sat 11 am – 6 pm
Special opening hours on 19 September:  3 – 10 pm
Admission is free

 

Contact:
info@howsoonisnow.de

Press Contact:
Bureau N
Silke Neumann and Julia Albani

silke.neumann@bureau-n.de
julia.albani@bureau-n.de

Art Direction:
Belgrad