The German pavilion for the 17th edition of La Biennale di Venezia invites the visitor to discover a better world, in 2038, and does so through a series of films that tell the story of a possible future where, despite having happened ecological, social and economic disasters, everything is better, and people, states, institutions and companies have come together with the aim of creating a new viable system of coexistence.

2038 - The New Serenity is curated by Arno Brandlhuber, Olaf Grawert, Nikolaus Hirsch, and Christopher Roth, who where joined by a group of architects, artists, environmentalists, economists, scientists, politicians, and writers trying to explore that society of the future by trying to know their prefigurative policies, their possible new modes of organization and their new social relationships.
The way of presenting the exhibition and its films have been very surprising and controversial. The reason is that the visitors of the German pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale find an empty neoclassical pavilion and they can found a series of QR codes on its walls, that allow to view and experience the content through their mobile devices.

In addition, there is another way to visit the so-called "Cloud Pavilion" at any time and place, the reason is that anyone can access a virtual 3D model of it through the exhibition website, being able to learn more about this possible future of the year 2038 while interacting with visitors from anywhere in the world without the need to leave home.

“There are purely digital spaces that we now consider to be on the same spectrum of “places in which humans operate.” It turns out that architecture and AI have more to do with each other than anyone once imagined”.

Hilary Mason. 2038 - The New Serenity collaborator.

The virtual pavilion can be found here.


 

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.

More information

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Collaborators
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Encargo
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Bundesministerium des Innern, für Bau und Heimat (BMI).
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Exhibitors
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Leo Altaras, Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Diana Alvarez-Marin, Andrés Arauz, Arts of the Working Class (Alina Kolar, Maria Ines Plaza Lazo, Paul Sochacki), Mara Balestrini, Sandra Bartoli, Diann Bauer, Jan Bauer, BBSR, Tatiana Bilbao, Lara Verena Bellenghi, BMI, Oana Bogdan, Erik Bordeleau, Mohamed Bourouissa, Jakob Brandtberg Knudsen & Lorenz von Seidlein, Francesca Bria, Loren Britton, Agnieszka Brzezanska, Vera Bühlmann, Bureau N (Inga Krumme, Katharina Neumann, Silke Neumann, Caroline Wolf), Benjamin Burq, Marina Castillo Deball, Vint Cerf, CFK Architetti (Martin Weigert), Cinema Key (Marco Fantacuzzi), Kristof Croes, Joana de la Fontaine, Elke Doppelbauer, Keller Easterling, Tobia de Eccher, Ludwig Engel, Joao Enxuto & Erica Love, ExRotaprint (Daniela Brahm and Les Schliesser), Manuel Falkenhahn, Jan Fermon, Cosimo Flohr, Foreign Legion (Matylda Krzykowski and Vera Sacchetti), Yona Friedman, Renée Gailhoustet, Jan-Peter Gieseking, Google Arts & Culture (Klaus Teuschler), Avital Greenshopn, Dorothee Hahn, Helene Hegemann, Holger Heissmeyer, Angelika Hinterbrandner, Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond, Ludger Hovestadt, Pan Hu, Jennifer Jacquet & Becca Franks, Jonas Janke, Mitchell Joachim, JUNG, Sonja Junkers, Roberta Jurčić, Claudia Kessler, Goda Klumbyte, Gábor Kocsis, Ferdinand Knecht, Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou, Ulrich Kriese, Philipp Krüpe, Lukas Kubina, Nikolaus Kuhnert, Phyllis Lambert, Samira Lenzin, Lawrence Lessig, Cédric Libert, Ferdinand Ludwig & Daniel Schoenle, Suhail Malik, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Renzo Martens, Hilary Mason, V. Mitch McEwen, James Meadway, Roman Miletitch, Omoju Miller, Evgeny Morozov, MOTIF (Kathrin Fritsch, Helene von Schwichow, Diana Kozachek), Motor Productions (Severin Bärenbold), Caroline Nevejan, Bahar Noorizadeh, Sabine Oberhuber & Thomas Rau, Jorge Orozco, Verena Otto, Shwetal Patel, Wong Ping, POLIGONAL (Christian Haid, Lukas Staudinger), Joanna Pope, Christian Posthofen, Alessandra Quattrini, Leif Randt, RAUE Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten und Rechtsanwältinnen, Rebiennale (Giulio Grillo), Kim Stanley Robinson, Denis “Jaromil” Roio, Raquel Rolnik, Meghan Rolvien, Juliana Rotich, Belle Santos, S.a.L.E. Docks, Saygel Schreiber & Gioberti (Attila Saygel), Clemens Schick, Ivo Semenitsch, Patrik Schumacher, Jack Self, Max Senges, Deane Simpson, space-time.tv (Carl Berthold, Holger Friese, Max Kossatz), Jonas Staal, Bruce Sterling, Michael Stöppler, Lia Strenge, Audrey Tang, Tecnoservice (Pierro Zennaro), terra0 (Max Hampshire, Paul Kolling, Paul Seidler), The Laboratory of Manuel Bürger (Manuel Bürger, Simon Schindele), Cassie Thornton, Jeanne Tremsal, Galaad Van Daele, Iris van der Tuin, Marcus Vesterager, Vitra, Julian Wäckerlin, Eyal Weizman, Julia Werlen, E. Glen Weyl, WHY Ventures (Floris Dreesman, Marie-Charlotte Schmidt), Mark Wigley, Anna Yeboah, Vanessa Yeboah, Erez Yoeli, Marco Zambrano, Tirdad Zolghadr.
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Dates
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May 21 to November 21, 2021.
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At the 17th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia. German Pavilion in Giardini, Venice, Italy.
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Photography
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Brandlhuber+ is an architecture office dedicated to the idea of collaboration with other practices, disciplines, and individuals. It was founded by Arno Brandlhuber in 2006. Arno Brandlhuber works as an Architect and Urban Planner. He studied Architecture and Urbansim at the TU Darmstadt and the Accademia del Arte in Florence.

From 1992 on he initiated several project- and office partnerships. During this period numerous projects and publications were realized, including the projects Neanderthal Museum (Mettmann, 1996), Kölner Brett (Cologne, 2000), and Crystal (Copenhagen, 2006). In 2006, he founded Brandlhuber+ as an architecture office dedicated to the idea of collaboration with other practices, discplines, and individuals.

Expanding on the idea of collaboration, he started the ongoing practice of Brandlhuber+ Emde, Burlon with built projects such as Brunnenstrasse 9 (Berlin, 2009), the Antivilla (Krampnitz, 2014), and St. Agnes (Berlin, 2015); currently working on LoBe, a mixed use housing project in Berlin, and a private art collection. Furthermore he is collaborating with Muck Petzet, working on the Tacheles project; Christian Kerez & Muck Petzet working on the Spreestudios; Michalski&Wagner on projects in Sicily and Sam Chermayeff on projects in Berlin.

Arno Brandlhuber taught at several universities and colleges. From 2003 to 2017, he held the chair of architecture and urban research at the Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg and directed the nomadic masters program a42.org. In 2017 Arno Brandlhuber was named professor of architecture and design at the ETH Zurich, where he teaches and researches new methods of architectural production and representation in architecture and media, through the tool of TV.  He was a guest professor at several universities including TU Vienna, Harvard Graduate School of Design and others.

Besides his building practice he is researching the transition of spatial organization and production in German history, focusing specifically on the Berlin Republic. As part of this research he put on several exhibitions and publications including „Von der Stadt der Teile zur Stadt der Teilhabe“, „The Dialogic City: Berlin wird Berlin“ and others.  

In recent years Arno Brandlhuber’s practice has been dedicated to the idea of legislation in architecture as a main factor for the built environment. This mindset resulted in ongoing investigations, both built and theoretical, such as the ARCH+ issue titled Legislating Architecture and the 2016 film Legislating Architecture, made in collaboration with director and film maker Christopher Roth.
Together they formulated the second chapter The Property Drama which premiered at he 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial. The film provoked a vivid political discussion resulting in an ARCH+ issue on the topic of property and land tenure, as well as an travelling-exhibition starting in November 2018 at the V-A-I.

His work was exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012 & 2016.
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Olaf Grawert plans, writes and talks about architecture. He lives and works between Berlin and Zurich.

Since 2015 in alternating collaborations with ARCH+ Zeitschrift für Architektur und Urbanismus, Brandlhuber+, MakeCity Berlin, Christopher Roth and many others. In his work he deals with the economization and marketing of space and possible strategies for the re-popularization of architecture.

Together with Arno Brandlhuber and Christopher Roth he worked on the films The Property Drama (2017) and Architecting after Politics (2018) as well as the touring exhibition Legislating Architecture – Architecting after Politics, which premiered at the VAI Dornbirn in autumn 2018 and since then is traveling through Europe.

Grawert was a guest lecturer and speaker at various universities and colleges, including the Joint Master of Architecture Suisse, the Accademia di Architettura Mendrisio, the Hong Kong School of Architecture and the TU Vienna. Since 2017, he has been a research assistant at ETH Zurich, where he has set up and operated the architecture online TV station+ together with Arno Brandlhuber and Christopher Roth.
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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.

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Christopher Roth is a film editor and director born on June 26, 1964 in Munich, Germany. His practice may be best understood as a kind of proactive intellectual scholarship that combines the factual and fictitious, with both analytic and poetic qualities. Roth’s work seeks to understand how information, words, pictures and ideas are received, travel and are mediated at a constantly accelerating pace. Since the 1990s, Roth has focused on the “emptiness” of single images and certain generic imagery that surround us. These images only accrue meaning in context—a function easily manipulated by the mass media. This knowledge — acquired and practiced as an accomplished film editor and director of feature films, and given theoretical underpinnings by his engagement with cultural history and philosophy—informs his entire practice. His major research project 80*81 with Georg Diez, for example, sought to reconstruct events in the period from January 1980 to December 1981 as evidence of important paradigmatic cultural and historical shifts. These were chronicled in eleven books assembled from contemporary images and texts, and interviews the authors undertook with contemporary witnesses, filmmakers and philosophers (among others). In addition, the project was presented at elaborately staged congresses and theater performances. Roth’s films also excel at channeling a characteristically voracious intake of images and ideas, giving them a visual equivalent without imposing an order, which he considers arbitrary by definition. Instead, his work relies on an active, engaged audience to draw its own inferences. Since the early aughts, projects increasingly experiment with the dissolution of linear time, posing an entirely fluid concept of past, present and future: fictionalizing the past (Baader, 2002), re-creating the future (Mozartbique, 2007–13, with Franz Stauffenberg), looking back from the year 2081 (2081 and 80*81, 2010–13, with Georg Diez), or reconstructing in 2026 the formation of a philosophical discourse that has since radically altered the world (Hyperstition, 2016, with Armen Avanessian).
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Published on: June 5, 2021
Cite: "2038 - The New Serenity. Pavilion of Germany at the Biennale di Venezia" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/2038-new-serenity-pavilion-germany-biennale-di-venezia> ISSN 1139-6415
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