2038 – The New Serenity

2038 – The New Serenity (German: 2038 – Die Neue Gelassenheit) is the German contribution in 2021 to the 17th Venice Biennale of Architecture, the world's most important and influential architecture exhibition, in Venice.[1][2] The project is a fictional retrospective and looks back from the year 2038 to the year 2021[3] and deals with the question: How will we live together?[4] The concept of the four curators Arno Brandlhuber, Olaf Grawert, Nikolaus Hirsch and Christopher Roth prevailed in a public two-stage open competition in 2019.[5] Because of the optimistic approach, the jury has chosen the cinematic contribution[6] and was the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (German: Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat).[7] The 17th Venice Biennale of Architecture has been postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8][9]

Curatorial Concept

2038 – The New Serenity was realized by the interdisciplinary team 2038, in collaboration of different disciplines such as architecture, art, economics, ecology, philosophy, politics science and technology, humanities, social and political science. The year 2038 is a fiction made credible by the factual knowledge of these experts.[7][10] Methodologically, the project can be classified in the field of Speculative realism. The team choose to use film to feature real experts who fictionally look back from the year 2038 and explain how the world overcame a "profound crisis" in the 2020s and became a better place afterwards.[3]

Films

The films of 2038 – The New Serenity tell the story of a world that has arrived in the era of the New Serenity and use both factual and fictional elements for the narrative.[11][8] Over four hours of footage were produced for the project.[12]

Interrail 2038

The film Interrail 2038 is an introduction to the theme. It shows two 18-year-old teenagers from the future who live in the time of the New Serenity and explore the Venice of their childhood.[13][14] The protagonists Billie and Vincent have beamed back to a deserted Venice of the year 2021 and talk about this strange past on their way to the German pavilion. The film was directed by Christopher Roth and written by Leif Randt.[15]

History Channels

Experts from different disciplines continue the narrative in the so-called History Channels. The path of the (hi)story through the 2020s and 2030s is made comprehensible with the help of exemplary projects and experts. The world has changed for the better, where peace now exist and we manage complexity better.[2][16] The History Channels consist of four channels, each of which is preceded by the word architecting. The channels are Architecting Data-Spaces, Architecting Property, Architecting (Eco)Systems and Architecting Complexity. They address topics such as digitization, platform economy, exploitation of planetary resources, capitalism built on structural disadvantage, or new forms of coexistence.[14]

The intention is to give to the hypothetical all the persuasive power of the factual by narrating the future, because, according to Ludwig Engel and Olaf Grawert, members of the team of curators along with Arno Brandlhuber and Nikolaus Hirsch, in their text ‚Zukunft ist gegenwärtig‘ (The future is here): ‚A story about the future is always a story for the future. Because it adds another perspective to what we can conceive of today, and therefore changes the possibilities of what the future could be‘.

— Christiane Bürklein, Floornature, 14 May 2021

Exhibition

The COVID-19 pandemic as a real crisis caught up with the fiction of 2038. The exhibition was postponed from 2020 to 2021 while the concept was adapted to have a virtual pavilion in addition to the physical one. The exhibition space in the German pavilion remained empty except for QR codes on the walls.[2][8][13] Visitors could also meet and talk with each other in the virtual pavilion.[17] 

While the curators initially planned to address three global crises, the financial markets, migration and climate, as the starting point for the exhibition 2038, a fourth one had to be added: the virus. This further changed things, making it difficult if not impossible to plan even for the present. An ’uncertainty even about the near future, making recent speculation irrelevant and bringing back the futures of the past.

— Christiane Bürklein, Floornature, 14 May 2021

One of the ways to gain access to the so-called Cloud Pavilion[2][8][13] is through the Google Arts & Culture web application. In the 3D pavilion, the different formats of 2038 are made accessible.

Publications

The contribution was accompanied by two issues of the multi-lingual street newspaper Arts of the Working Class[18][19] In July 2020 the first issue (#120)[20] and in August 2021 the second issue (#17) was published in cooperation with the Berlin Questions conference.[21] The issues include contributions by Andrés Arauz, Diann Bauer, Lara Verena Bellenghi, Benjamin Bratton, Anne Katrin Bohle, Elizabeth Diller, Christian Drosten, Guerilla Architects, Francis Kéré, Lukas Kubina, Lesley Lokko, Sam Lubicz, Dorte Mandrup, Renzo Martens, Caroline Nevejan, Sabine Oberhuber and Thomas Rau, Joanna Pope, Christian Posthofen, Anna Yeboah, among others.

Sorry Press

In 2021, Sorry Press published an anthology titled 2038 The New Serenity. Featuring fictional essays and stories by 2038 protagonists such as Tatiana Bilbao, Ludwig Engel and Olaf Grawert, Mitchell Joachim, Evgeny Morozov, Hilary Mason, Leif Randt, Christopher Roth, Mark Wigley and others.[21]

Further program

Further collaborations were with the Archiv der Zukunft Lichtenfels (English: Archive of the Future Lichtenfels) in the town Lichtenfels and the Goethe-Institut.[21] In the Performing Architecture[22] program series of the Goethe-Institut, 100 Ways to Say We: Konferenz der Abwesenden (English: 100 Ways to Say We: Conference of the Absent) was realized with Rimini Protokoll and 100 Ways to Say We: Training for the Future with Jonas Staal and Florian Malzacher.[23] The films of the History Channel are shown on Christopher Roth's online TV channel space-time.tv.

Reception

In July 2021, the German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz visited the exhibition in Venice.[24] he exhibition was perceived very positively[3] and partly critically.[11]

Quotes

We must criticize, but we must also propose solutions. Architects have a special responsibility here, because their design has far-reaching consequences. 2038 takes an optimistic look at the future, because it is in our own hands.

— Olaf Grawert, BauNetz, 25 May 2021

Scope of work and formats

References
  1. Betsky, Aaron (24 May 2021). "Notes from Venice. Architecture Biennale". ARCHITECT Magazine. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  2. Albani, Julia (26 Aug 2021). "The Venice Biennale Has Us Asking Many Questions". AZURE. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  3. Bürklein, Christiane (15 May 2021). "Biennale di Venezia, the German Pavilion looks back from the future". Floornature. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  4. La Biennale di Venezia (2021). "Biennale Architettura 2021. How will we live together?". La Biennale di Venezia. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  5. Blank, Nicolai (22 Mar 2021). "Kein Dolce Vita am Canale Grande (English: No Dolce Vita on the Canale Grande)". competitionline. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  6. Moldenhauer, Anna (26 May 2021). "Three questions to Peter Cachola Schmal". Stylepark. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  7. Bundesministeriums des Innern und für Heimat (BMI) (English: Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community) (21 May 2021). "Deutscher Beitrag zur 17. Architekturbiennale eröffnet". Bundesministeriums des Innern und für Heimat. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  8. Kafka, George (2 Jun 2021). "Can't make it to Italy? Here are the virtual exhibitions to see at the Venice Architecture Biennale". The Architect’s Newspaper. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  9. Barba, José Juan (19 May 2021). "La Biennale di Venezia definitely postponed to 2021". metalocus. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  10. Moldenhauer, Anna (19 Apr 2021). "Biennale Architettura 2021. Shaping the future". Stylepark. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  11. Carlson, Cajsa (25 May 2021). "Germany's 2038 pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale puts QR codes on walls of empty building". dezeen. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  12. Koeberle, Susanna (26 May 2021). "Ist der Blick ins Leere leer? (English: Is the gaze into the void empty?)". swiss-architects.com. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  13. Italy Architecture News (26 May 2021). "German Pavilion "Playfully" Explores Possible Futures In 2038 With QR Codes At Venice Biennale". World Architecture. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  14. e-flux Architecture (14 May 2021). "2038 - THE NEW SERENITY. German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale". e-flux Architecture. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  15. Timm, Tobias (22 May 2021). "Die Zukunft ist hell! (English: The future is bright!)". DIE ZEIT. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  16. Moreno, Gonzalo García (6 May 2021). "2038 – The New Serenity. Pavilion of Germany at the Biennale di Venezia". metalocus. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  17. The Associated Press (22 May 2021). "Venice Architecture Biennale 2021: From Gaza to Chile, exhibition asks how we will live together". Firstpost. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  18. Bürklein, Christiane (14 May 2023). "Biennale di Venezia, the German Pavilion looks back from the future". Floornature. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  19. Shaw, Janna (14 May 2021). "Venice Biennale: Architettura 2021 – Germany's New Serenity". Numéro. Retrieved 23 Sep 2022.
  20. BauNetz (8 Jul 2020). "Vorgeschmack auf Venedig. Heftrelease von Team 2038 in Berlin (English: Preview of Venice. Issue release of Team 2038 in Berlin)". BauNetz. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  21. Laura M. Lampe, Alexander Stumm (25 May 2021). "Die neue Gelassenheit. Deutscher Pavillon in Venedig 2021 (English: The New Serenity. The German Pavilion in Venice 2021)". BauNetz. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  22. Performing Architecture (2021). "About Performing Architecture". Goethe Institut. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  23. Goethe Institut (2021). "Performing Architecture 2021: Abwesenheit, Gemeinschaft und Zukunft (English: Performing Architecture 2021: Absence, Community and Future". Goethe Institut. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
  24. Bünger, Reinhart (21 Nov 2021). "Koalitionsverhandlungen im Bund - Kein Anhängsel (English: Coalition negotiations in the federal government - No appendage". Der Tagesspiegel. Retrieved 12 Feb 2023.
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