The Exhibition

October 2, 2010 – November 28, 2010 at Kraftwerk Mitte, Berlin

Opening October 1, 2010 at 7 pm

In autumn 2010 Berlin is playing host to «REALSTADT.Wünsche als Wirklichkeit» [REALSTADT. Wishes Knocking on Reality's Doors]. The focal point in this exhibition will be not only the concept of the City but also the way we deal with the City. It is the wishes of very many different actors playing an active part in shaping the City that are central to the exhibition: mundane wishes and spectacular ones, idealistic and economic ones, local and global ones. Cities, after all, are built from wishes, animated by wishes and pulsing with wishes.

A vast array of around 300 architectural and planning models and 80 exemplary projects from all over Germany testify to the wish for change and the energy needed to make it happen. In response to a nationwide call, these models were submitted by local authorities, town planning offices, universities, planning initiatives and individuals. They include blueprints for extensive urban redevelopments and pinpoint interventions, realized concepts and shelved competition entries, participatory processes and bold individual statements.

REALSTADT. Wünsche als Wirklichkeit is staged in the 8,000 m2 turbine hall of the power station Kraftwerk Berlin-Mitte, which was built in 1961. For REALSTADT it is making its debut as an exhibition venue. Its stark austerity lends overwhelming resonance to the exhibition’s urban impulses. These are being displayed on two levels and evoke something like the potential of normalcy.

Initiated by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS) represented by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR), the exhibition is conceived and realized by Martin Heller (Heller Enterprises), Artistic Director of Linz2009 European Capital of Culture and, prior to this, Artistic Director of the Swiss National Exhibition EXPO.02, in collaboration with Angelika Fitz as curator and the architect Tristan Kobler, of Holzer Kobler Architekturen.