Architecture museums are also currently facing a major challenge: remaining visible even though they are closed. Baumeister spoke to Professor Andres Lepik, Director of the Architekturmuseum der TUM (Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich), about his plans for the Architekturmuseum München 2021 and about participatory formats. The coronavirus pandemic presents the museum landscape with an unprecedented challenge: as in the […]
Architecture museums are also currently facing a major challenge: remaining visible even though they are closed. Baumeister spoke to Professor Andres Lepik, Director of the Architekturmuseum der TUM (Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich), about his plans for the Architekturmuseum München 2021 and participatory formats.
The coronavirus pandemic is presenting the museum landscape with an unprecedented challenge: as in the spring, art and culture are once again confined to the virtual world this fall and winter. How is this affecting institutions? And where are new paths being taken?
Professor Andres Lepik, Director of the TUM Museum of Architecture (Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich), provides an insight into this. “At the moment, we can no longer plan anything the way we used to,” reports the museum director. “Of course, we think and hope that after the Christmas lockdown, the infection figures will have fallen again to such an extent that we can think about gradually reopening the museums. Because culture has been hit pretty hard. Especially after great efforts were made throughout the summer to implement all hygiene guidelines.”
In any case, Andres Lepik has extended the current exhibition “The Architecture Machine” by five months until the beginning of June. The show, curated by Teresa Fankhänel, is the first in the German-speaking world to take a comprehensive look at the development of the digital in architecture from its beginnings in the 1950/60s to the present day and presents the computer in its various roles: as a drawing machine, as a design tool, as a medium for storytelling and as an interactive communication platform.
Lepik is currently working with a Taiwanese curator to develop the concept for the “Taiwan Acts!” exhibition, which is due to open in 2021 – at the beginning of July to be precise. After the devastating earthquake on September 21, 1999, numerous architectural initiatives developed in Taiwan that focus on the social role of building in their own country. These include measures to improve the urban structure of Yilan, as well as cultural buildings, infrastructure and housing elsewhere on the island. “A lot has developed and moved in Taiwan in recent years,” says Andres Lepik enthusiastically. “And architecture in particular plays a crucial role there. We want to show architecture in Taiwan, not the kind that has been brought there from outside, i.e. the imported star architecture by Zaha Hadid, for example, but architecture that has been developed by Taiwanese architects.”
Many projects are hardly known in Europe. This makes the show the largest exhibition on this topic to date. It shows a committed culture of building and planning that has emerged from an open social dialog. “This will be an exhibition that once again focuses on the social element of architecture, which we have increasingly presented here in the museum in recent years,” explains Andres Lepik: “How can citizens be involved? How can architecture also do something to ensure that democratic society participates in the planning of buildings?” Andres Lepik also considers participation to be essential in the curatorial field: “I’m currently thinking about how we can expand our participatory elements in exhibitions even further. We see that visitors tend to react enthusiastically when you ask them for their advice, opinion, intelligence and information in the museum too.”
The Architekturmuseum remains in contact with its visitors even when the exhibition “The Architecture Machine” can no longer be experienced on site. Digital offerings such as the curator tours with Teresa Fankhänel on YouTube make the exhibition easily accessible despite the closure. “We are also very active in maintaining our digital fan base on Instagram. We have posts, interviews and talks there several times a week,” explains Andres Lepik. “Sometimes you can actually reach people faster, better and more easily on digital channels. We are currently using this as an opportunity to invite people to an interview or lecture.” Despite closed rooms, there are still opportunities to be visible as a museum in the virtual world. So the work continues behind the scenes.
