From the exhibition of architecture to spatial practices. The shows at ar/ge kunst, Bolzano (1992-2019)

Abstract

This text is the result of an archival research conducted consulting the records of ar/ge kunst, the Kunstverein of Bolzano, where, among others, several architecture exhibitions have been presented over the last 35 years. From the very beginning, the founders chose to work on the different languages of contemporaneity, integrating in the visual arts program of the small space further disciplines like architecture, among others. Regarding the presentation of architecture, the focus of the different artistic directors of the space moved throughout the years from traditional architectural exhibitions to the display of works that understand the relation with space in a more extended way. Some of ar/ge kunst’s exhibitions are introduced here as examples in order to address issues, such as architecture, its exhibition and the spaces of its narration. The aim is to highlight the relationship between the display of architecture and the form taken by the exposition design. How does the contents of the exhibition influence its setting? In these lines there is no ambition to exhaustively list and describe the possibilities of narrating architecture through exhibitions nor the role played by their design. Instead, the purpose of this analysis is to identify some possible forms of architecture exposition, and to intersect a genealogy of recent architecture exhibitions. ar/ge kunst seems to be a useful case study in this context because it allows to explore a phenomenon, which is broad and elusive at the same time, studying some examples that are concrete and comparable since they have been hosted by the same institution.