Gegenwärtige WeltGestaltung · Architektur nach Universalismus und postkolonialer Kritik · Konferenz
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12.-13. Dezember 2019 · Centre Marc Bloch & Haus der Kulturen der Welt · Berlin
Mit Jakob Vogel & Yigal Bronner, Sabine Eilers, Franck Hofmann, Antonios Kalatzis, Ines Weizman, Thomas Flierl, Donatella Fioretti, Jan Friedrich, Zvi Efrat, Onyeka Nwelue, Andres Lepik, Priya Basil, Teresa Koloma Beck, Philipp Oswalt u.a.
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The Double Helix of Berlin Post-War Modernism
Vortrag: Thomas Flierl (Auszug)
Despite the fact, that Berlin had been a divided city (Fig. 2) – since 1948 administratively, from 1961 to 1989 by the Berlin wall – it was always both, East and West. Under the patronage of the prevailing occupying powers a battle was fought for the future, for the superiority of their different social and political systems.
Architecture and urban construction played an extraordinary role in this competition. Aside from the political differences, the difference between avant-garde and tradition, inherent to modernism, formed the basis for an aesthetic expression for these political differences. Stylistic and typological differences of architecture and urban construction were enormously politically loaded. Of course, the legacy of the Bauhaus always played a role here, whether open or hidden.
This overlapping of political and aesthetic polarities and the efforts undertaken on both sides led to outstanding urban ensembles. Three unique projects of post-war Modernism are especially worth mentioning: the first stage of construction of the Karl-Marx-Allee (the former Stalinallee), the International Constructing Exhibition (Interbau) 1957 comprising of the Hansaviertel, the Academy of the Arts and the Congress Hall and as an extension the Corbusier House and finally the second stage of construction of the Karl-Marx-Allee. Berlin has decided in 2012 to nominate these three projects together for the World Heritage List of UNESCO.