Architecture in Migration

Lecture Series, Bundeskulturstiftung, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne 2004-2005

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In this lecture series Ilka & Andreas Ruby investigate the cultural effects of migration on architecture. The global movement of large masses of people who have given up or lost their home fundementally challenges the architectural notion of place – what used to be a permanent reference for the migrant turns into a momentary station on a longer journey. Likewise the bond of local culture and place is getting loose, as in our migratory world are increasingly characterised by cultures which have been bred elsewhere. And finally migration also stirs established relations between places and actions traditionally assigned to it. Such the series aims to frame migration not primarily as a social phenomenon, but rather as a cultural technique which inevitably affects the production of reality no matter where we are in the world. As part of the overall Migration project of the Kölnische Kunstverein, the series led to an exhibition on the subject to was held in 2005.

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Participants:

Jean-Philippe Vassal, Lacaton&Vassal, Paris; Eyal Weizman, London/Tel Aviv; Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Atelier Bow-Wow, Tokyo; Santiago Cirugeda, Sevilla; Barbara Munch, Peking; François Roche, R&Sie…, Paris; Shigeru Ban, Tokyo; Reinier de Graaf, AMO, Rotterdam; Ilka & Andreas Ruby, textbild, Cologne; Ferda Kolatan, su11, New York; Valerie Portefaix, map office, Hong Kong; Wes Jones, J,P:A, Los Angeles; Joep van Lieshout, Rotterdam; Klaus Overmeyer, cet-0, Berlin; Stefano Boeri, USE, Milano