Volkwin Marg, Hamburg
Since antiquity, skill (“techne” in Greek) and art (“poesis”) - both referring to artistry or craftsmanship - have been closely related conceptually. Whether Roman pantheon, Gothic cathedral, Renaissance cupola, or Baroque bridge, technology and art have always joined forces to produce the architectural Gesamtkunstwerk. The cultural gap separating rationally progressing technology from emotionally charged art appeared only with the accelerated evolution of consciousness that arrived in the wake of the industrial revolution. Ever since, the image of the building arts and of the master builder has been Janus-faced: on the one side is the engineer, who devises the structure as a “work of engineering art”; on the other stands the architect, who is responsible for its scenarization as a work of architecture.
The cultural revolutionary campaigns of many 20th century architectural avant-gardes, aimed at the conquest of technology, altered little in this scenario. Their protagonists behaved like interpreting astrologers, abandoning their aesthetic ivory towers only to occupy the observatories of ingenious astronomers. Still, they did so less in order to strive for a synthesis with technology (embodied at the time by steamships, engines and constructions), and far more for the sake of recruiting up-to-date objects to satisfy their undiminished mania for interpretation. From early Constructivism to late Deconstructivism, little changed in this manner of operating.
In the face of such tendencies, Volkwin Marg strive in their architectural scenarios for a genuine synthesis between art and technology. This is also true for so-called “structures of engineering art,” whether bridges, towers, halls, amphitheaters, or stadiums.
The examples featured in this exhibition as projects or buildings - the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, the Tower of the Neue Messe Leipzig, the Commerzbank_Arena, the Kiel Hörn Bridge, the Museum of Hamburg History, the Tower of the Hanse Messe in Rostock, etc. - unite two sides of the same coin, fusing the dialogue between interpretive formal composition and deductive formal invention into a unity of the building arts. The interpretation of constructive logic in terms of the latest technical possibilities evolves within the terms of an open dispute between architect and engineer, now as equal partners.
Many designs are the fruit of discourse, not only among team members, but also with Jörg Schlaich and his partners. On display in a separate pavilion will be his ready-for-building vision of a solar thermal lift power station, one that points toward the future.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog (€ 10).
