Inheritances – Stories from the Querumer Forst Exhibition and symposium at TU Braunschweig
With its picturesquely secluded location in Querumer Forst, the Institute for Architecture-Related Art (IAK) at Technische Universität Braunschweig is a special place. What lies behind this imposing concrete building in the middle of nature – far away from the main campus in the city centre – has now been investigated by students and staff using artistic research methods. In the seminar series “ERBSCHAFTEN”, they have uncovered parts of the institute’s history layer by layer in five seminars between 2018 and 2021.
With the project “ERBSCHAFTEN. Geschichten aus dem Querumer Forst” (Inheritances. Stories from Querumer Forst), an archive of the history of a special house in Querumer Forst has been created with artistic reflections. Originally, the building was erected for the Institute for Structural Air Defence under Dr. Theodor Kristen at the end of the 1930s, so that bulletproof concrete could be developed and tested there in a protected location. In the 1960s, the building was converted according to plans by the Braunschweig architect Zdenko Strižić for use as a studio and teaching space for architecture students. Years of artistic teaching followed under the direction of professors Jürgen Weber, Azade Köker, Tomás Saraceno and, since 2016, Folke Köbberling.
Exhibition in the Architecture Pavilion
Over the past few years, students and staff have collected and retold the stories of the building and its people. This project is characterised by the diverse research approaches of the students and the insights they have gained: A great deal of individual responsibility has gone into asking questions, digging, working and designing. The results speak for this form of collaborative and practice-oriented working method: From 4 to 26 May 2022, they will be on display in an exhibition in the architecture pavilion of TU Braunschweig. A summary of the created works will be presented in the book “ERBSCHAFTEN”, which will also be published in May as part of this exhibition.
Symposium
The discovery of a test facility for testing concrete for the air-raid protection of bunkers, which was discovered during the last excavation for “ERBSCHAFTEN V” in autumn 2021 in the adjacent woodland in Querumer Forst, is now the reason for the symposium to be held on 19 May 2022 in the context of the aforementioned results.
With the symposium, the IAK would like to open up the space to ask questions, share ideas and experiences with experts and interested parties and engage in an exchange about the future treatment of this material heritage. Scholars, artists and curators from various disciplines are invited to present and discuss their work.
The aim of the symposium is to bundle a discourse on the central topics touched upon in the project “ERBSCHAFTEN” and to establish a connection between academic positions and art practice and theory. Together with the book, the symposium thus contributes to the reappraisal of a period in the recent history of TU Braunschweig.
Exhibition
4 – 26 May 2022
Opening hours:
4 to 20 May: Wed-Fri, 3:00-6:00 p.m.
21 to 26 May: Tue-Thu, 3:00-6:00 p.m.
Venue: Architecture Pavilion, TU Braunschweig, Pockelsstraße 4, 38106 Braunschweig
Symposium
19 May 2022, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Registration: Please register by e-mail to erbschaften-iak@tu-braunschweig.de
Venue: Architecture Pavilion, TU Braunschweig, Pockelsstraße 4, 38106 Braunschweig
Hosts: Stella Flatten and Alice Goudsmit
With contributions and presentations by Linnea Altrogge, Ulrike Fauerbach, Nora Hogrefe, Ruben Michaelis, Martin Krenn, Christoph Kreutzmüller, Cornelia Offergeld, Gunnar Schulz-Lehnfeld, Marc-André Tiede, Stephan Mörsch.
The programme was financially supported by the SBK – Stiftung Braunschweigischer Kulturbesitz and TU Braunschweig.
With the cooperation of the following institutes: Institute of History and Theory of Architecture and the City (GTAS), Institute of Building History (IB), Institute for Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics (IGeP)