Bungalow Germania. German Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale 2014

Bungalow Germania is the title of this year’s German contribution to the 14th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia. Created by the architects Alex Lehnerer and Savvas Ciriacidis, the exhibition combines two buildings of national and historical importance: the Kanzlerbungalow (Chancellor Bungalow) in Bonn, and the German Pavilion itself. Each from a different eras of German history, they represent two political systems, and two architectural languages, and both were instrumentalized by their owners as a statement on nationhood or as a promise to the nation.

Alex Lehnerer and Savvas Ciriacidis investigate the two buildings and their relationship to each other by placing a replica of the Chancellor Bungalow inside the German Pavilion in Venice. By doing this, the installation connects ideas and moments in time, and opens up a spectrum of associations.

This video provides you with a walk-through of the exhibition, including a short excerpt of the tour Alex Lehnerer and Savvas Ciriacidis gave on one of the preview days. A detailed interview with the architects is available here.

Bungalow Germania. Pavilion of Germany at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia. Exhibition walk-through, June 6, 2014. Giardini della Biennale, Venice (Italy).

PS: The singing of the birdsong that you here in the background is part of an acoustic performance that choreographer William Forsythe developed for the Bungalow Germania. Entitled Birds, Bonn 1964, the singing of the birds, which lived in the park of the Chancellor’s Residence in Bonn, has been sung live by Italian bird-song-singers (Chiocolatori) at the opening of the Biennale on June 6-8, 2014. Recorded versions will be played until the end of the Biennale on November 23, 2014. Birds, Bonn 1964 by William Forsythe was produced by Julian Gabriel Richter, with sound by Niels Lanz. Chiocolatori: Daniela Cattivelli, Claudio Pin, Camillo Prosdocimo, Giorgio Rizzo, Ettore Scabin. Compositor: Daniela Cattivelli. Birds, Bonn 1964 is also a production for Performing Architecture, a series of events by the Goethe-Institut. A video focusing on the acoustic performance is coming soon.

> Right-click (Mac: ctrl-click) this link to download Quicktime video file.

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