»Less is a bore.«

Robert Venturi

Blog Agenda

Iceland and Architecture?

  • “After the Crash,” 2008. (Photo: Gudmundur Ingólfsson) 1 / 5  “After the Crash,” 2008. (Photo: Gudmundur Ingólfsson)
  • Eiríksstadir, reconstruction of a traditional house (skáli) from the 10th century in Haukadalur, West Iceland. (Photo: Gudmundur Ingólfsson) 2 / 5  Eiríksstadir, reconstruction of a traditional house (skáli) from the 10th century in Haukadalur, West Iceland. (Photo: Gudmundur Ingólfsson)
  • Skagafjördur, northern Iceland, Studio Granda, 2004–07. (Photo: Gudmundur Ingólfsson) 3 / 5  Skagafjördur, northern Iceland, Studio Granda, 2004–07. (Photo: Gudmundur Ingólfsson)
  • Public bath Seljavallalaug at Eyjafjöll in southern Iceland, 1928. (Photo: Gudmundur Ingólfsson) 4 / 5  Public bath Seljavallalaug at Eyjafjöll in southern Iceland, 1928. (Photo: Gudmundur Ingólfsson)
  • Harpa concert hall and conference center in Reykjavik, Henning Larsen Architects with a façade by Olafur Eliasson, 2007-11. (Photo: Gudmundur Ingólfsson) 5 / 5  Harpa concert hall and conference center in Reykjavik, Henning Larsen Architects with a façade by Olafur Eliasson, 2007-11. (Photo: Gudmundur Ingólfsson)

The question mark is not only in the title of this exhibition - the questions continue throughout the entire show. What kind of architecture is found in a country that has no traditional building materials such as timber and bricks at its fingertips, but instead builds houses using grass and clay? To what heights can concrete buildings soar? And how have the people of Iceland coped with the influx of unexpected wealth as their homeland suddenly became the richest country in Europe...and what about managing the equally unexpected crash? 

The exhibition Iceland and Architecture? will explore these and similar questions, illustrated with photographs by Gudmundur Ingólfsson, and despite the crisis will illustrate a myriad of silver linings emerging behind the clouds. The festival documentary Future of Hope by the British director Henry Bateman employs other means but equally aims to present glimpses of hope for the country′s future in the wake of the crisis.

Before the exhibition offically opens on 23 November, there will be a panel discussion with Pétur H. Ármannsson (architect and author), Olga Gu∂rún Sigfúsdóttir and Jörn Frenzel (Vatnavinir initiative), Steve Christer (Studio Granda), Hjördís Sigurísladóttir and Dennis Jóhannessin (architects from the Icelandic Embassy Residence in Berlin), and Halla Helgadóttir (Iceland Design Centre). The panel is moderated by the exhibition's curator and director of the German Architecture museum in Frankfurt/Main, Peter Cachola Schmal.


Iceland and Architecture?
Discussion at 6pm; Exhibition opens at 8pm 
23 November, 2012, - 6 January, 2013
Felleshus of the Nordic Embassies
Rauchstr. 1, 10787 Berlin, Germany


www.botschaft-island.de

(Video: trailer for the documentary Future of Hope by Henry Bateman, Iceland, 2010)

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