Description of project by 2038
La historia
Today, in the year 2038, we have mastered the great crises. It was close, but we made it. The ecological, social and economic disasters of the 2020s brought people, states, institutions and companies together. They committed themselves to fundamental rights and co-created viable, adaptable systems and legal frameworks on a global basis, giving decentralized, local structures the space to maintain and create diverse models of coexisting.
Technology and big data helped turn new and old ideas into reality. And often architects were part of the dénouements because they brought answers instead of further questions. Drama is now history. We live in a radical democracy, in a radical bureaucracy. On a planet that doesn’t know or need heroes or villains.
The curatorial concept
2038, the German Pavilion at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, invites you to discover a story between fact and fiction. In a series of films, 2038 tells the story of a better world in which everything, though imperfect, is better in some pretty profound and radical ways. The story is based on the knowledge and visions of a collaborative team of international experts from architecture, art, ecology, economy, philosophy, politics, science, and technology. Together, team 2038 strives to explore our future society through prefigurative politics, illustrating modes of organization and social relationships to come.
The films
INTERRAIL 2038 features two young adults from the future who meet to explore the Venice of their childhood. Their encounter gives us a glimpse into how the future feels: the world has changed. Peace reigns in dimmed prosperity and personal technology helps us to better cope with complexity.
How did we create this viable system of living together? In the HISTORY CHANNELS, experts and exemplary projects trace the paths of (hi)story through the 2020s and 2030s, answering the central question of this year’s Biennale: “How will we live together?” Four key areas of transformation are identified.
Architecting data spaces
Digital spheres and data sovereignty played a crucial role in mediating our co-existence on the planet. Various docietal models were conceived and merged, resulting in a viable global system that promotes local, decentralized ways of living that still strive from collaboration and connectivity across the globla whole.
Architecting property
Property concerns, considering ownership of both land and living space, as well as of data, have been at the heart of challenging debates around inclusion and accessibility. The question of property was crucial to the question of how we want to live together.
Architecting (eco)systems
Two myths of the modern era were finally exposed: first, humans became aware of the finite nature of our ecosystems and the scarcity of resources, and thereafter, they realized that exponential growth was no longer an option. In 2038 we see the convergence and concurrence of economy and ecology in one cycle.
Architecting complexity
Architects became aware of the fact that they build not only in space but also in time (configurations). Instead of solely thinking about the practicalities of what will happen next, architects are concious of the consequences of their actions. As a whole, they reflect on how new results are generated and fed back into the system.
Architecting is an optimistic form of action, dealing with the ramifications of the built environment and its effects on all sorts of possible futures. In 2038, architecture is an active process that does not end with construction, but takes into account all life cycles, systemically and holistically. Architecture remains as relevant as ever.
The team
2038 is an international team of architects, artists, ecologists, economists, scientists, politicians and writers, initiated in 2019 by Arno Brandlhuber, Olaf Grawert, Nikolaus Hirsch and Christopher Roth, aiming to tell a (hi)story that today we call the future.
Nikolaus Hirsch is an architect, curator, editor, and educator. Since autumn 2020 he is the Artistic Director of the architecture museum CIVA in Brussels, and previously was the Dean of Städelschule and Director of Portikus in Frankfurt.
He has taught at the Architectural Association in London, Institut für Angewandte Theaterwissenschaften at Giessen University, HfG Karlsruhe, Penn University in Philadelphia, and Columbia University in New York. His architectural work includes the award-winning Dresden Synagogue, Bockenheimer Depot Theater (with William Forsythe), unitednationsplaza (with Anton Vidokle), Cybermohalla Hub in New Delhi, and “Do We Dream Under The Same Sky“ (Art Basel, LUMA Arles).
Hirsch curated numerous exhibitions at Portikus, and „ErsatzStadt“ at Volksbühne Berlin (2005), “Cultural Agencies” (Istanbul, 2009/10), “Folly” for the Gwangju Biennale (2013), “Housing Question” at the HKW in Berlin (2015).
He is the author of the books “On Boundaries” (2007), "Institution Building" (2009), “Cybermohalla Hub” (2012), co-editor of the Critical Spatial Practice series at Sternberg Press and co-founder of e-flux architecture.
Photography by Armin Linke.
