Between Walls and Windows. Architecture and Ideology

Editor: Valerie Smith
Graphic design by NODE, Oslo-Berlin
English/German
280 pp., ca. 170 ills.
22.00 x 29.00 cm, softcover
Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2012
ISBN: 978-3-7757-3474-5
Price: € 39,80

Available at bookstores, the shop at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and online at Hatje Cantz Verlag

In 1958 the United States presented West Berlin with a congress hall, a “beacon of freedom transmitting its rays toward the East,” as its architect, Hugh Stubbins, defined his work. Today, the building houses the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, and the ideology of the Cold War has given way to the vision of a collective discussion of global issues. What role did the architecture play in this? What kinds of effects do buildings and lifestyles have on milieus, habits, attitudes, and morals? This publication is a collection of analyses, ideas, and literary narratives on the question of whether architecture can influence people, encourage them to pursue freedom, and empower them as citizens. Artists, photographers, architects, and writers grapple with the richly historical Haus der Kulturen der Welt, creating a concept of architecture that contrasts global tendencies toward uniformity with the charm of regional characteristics, with the support of texts written by Adalbert Stifter, Jenny Erpenbeck, Tom McCarthy, Haruki Murakami, Georges Perec, and others.

Essays by
Kader Attia, Sebastian Cichocki, Georg Diez, Terence Gower, Valeria Luiselli, Markus Miessen, Marko Sančanin, Lytle Shaw, Wang Shu, Ivan Vladislavić and others

The presented artists (selection):
Arno Brandlhuber, Eran Schaerf, Markus Miessen, Monika Sosnowska, Marko Sančanin, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Wang Shu