"Open for Maintenance" transforms the monumental German Pavilion into a living place of (re)production. Assisting various groups from civil society, such as Assemblea Sociale per la Casa (ASC), university students, and crafts apprentices will help to maintain, repair, and care for social infrastructures across Venice as part of the Maintenance 1:1 workshop program.
The collaborative interventions at the Pavilion and within the city are not limited to a critique of the Biennale as a format and of architecture as a discipline. Rather, the practically-minded approach sheds light on architecture’s myriad possibilities for action in converting and designing inclusive and socioecological cities.
The Material Repository. "Open for Maintenance" by Arch+, Summacumfemmer, Büro Juliane Greb, 2023.
The ramp
In 1938, German architect Ernst Haiger remodeled the Bavarian Pavilion, dating from 1909, in accordance with Nazi ideology, turning it into the monumental piece of architecture we know today. Ever since, four massive fluted Doric columns have adorned its portico, separated from the grounds of the Giardini by five steps. This building is the vector of an architectural ideology proudly affirming its superiority and its claim to power. Anyone who does not conform to its norms is systematically excluded, not only in a political and cultural sense but in a physical one as well: Classicism, from which this Pavilion inherits its traits, has always been modeled after the healthy body— aligned, during national socialism, with a racist ideal hellbent on annihilating other bodies. "
Open for Maintenance" views repairing the existing built fabric as a chance for a structural and ideological correction centering on the needs of marginalized groups and bodies disadvantaged by ableism. The temporary remodeling of the German Pavilion’s entrance adds a semicircular access ramp, facilitating access not only to visitors with reduced mobility, but also to cleaning personnel, guards, and technicians with heavy equipment. The ramp frames a new, public podium, which will be activated by the mixed-able FORWARD DANCE COMPANY by LOFFT – DAS THEATER in cooperation with the program partner Goethe-Institut on the occasion of the Pavilion’s opening.
The new inclusive access ramp to the German Pavilion. "Open for Maintenance" by Arch+, Summacumfemmer, Büro Juliane Greb, 2023.
The material repository
At the end of each Biennale, and hidden from the visitors’ eyes, tons of exhibition materials are transported across Venice by hand, handcart, and boat. Only a fraction of these is reused. Not least because storage locations in the city are scarce and logistics costs notoriously sky-high—common problems encountered in the circular building—most discarded materials go straight to the nearest landfill or recycling facility. This is where "
Open for Maintenance" comes into play: Taking over Maria Eichhorn’s contribution relocating a Structure at the 2022 Art Biennale directly following the closing of the exhibition not only keeps the forensic investigation of the Pavilion’s history visible for another year but also enabled immediate access to the Pavilion and its use as a material repository. Materials gathered from almost 40 national pavilions and exhibitions were saved from the landfill and moved to the German Pavilion in a physically demanding process in collaboration with Rebiennale / R3B. These
“spolia” from the previous Biennale have become part of the structural interventions at the German Pavilion, all built from left-behind materials. For the duration of the 2023 Architecture Biennale, and with the help of a new digital database developed in collaboration with Concular, the materials are inventoried and made available for further processing in the Maintenance 1:1 workshop program.
Spolia from the Biennale Arte 2022 (item in from: Swiss Pavilion). "Open for Maintenance" by Arch+, Summacumfemmer, Büro Juliane Greb, 2023.
The workshop
Profit-oriented architectural production is geared toward demolition and new construction instead of repairing, toward growth instead of sufficiency and maintenance. This contravenes all sensible environmental and social changes needed in light of contemporary crises. Already today, more than half of construction projects in Europe are refurbishments and conversions. In the future, practicing architecture will mean, first and foremost, repairing that which already exists. Maintenance and repair require tools, knowledge, and techniques. These are at the disposal of all visitors in the openly accessible workshop in the German Pavilion. A workshop program involving grassroots organizations from various countries, as well as universities and apprenticeship providers will make these aspirations a practical reality well beyond the limits of the Biennale itself: Collaborative projects will lead to small repair works in and around Venice. Based on actual interventions, participants will learn that the (re)production of space is inextricably linked to both social and ecological issues.
Spolia from over 40 different pavilions from the Biennale Arte 2022. "Open for Maintenance" by Arch+, Summacumfemmer, Büro Juliane Greb, 2023.
The bathroom
The transformation of the German Pavilion into a living site of (re)productive work will encompass the integration of heretofore missing sanitary infrastructure into the building. The bathroom also materializes a response to several topical issues surrounding a necessary “sanitary revolution”: From an ecological perspective, a water-based sanitary network is increasingly untenable given ever-longer droughts. The matter is an especially pressing one in Venice, where the lack of a sewer system leads to most toilets being directly emptied into the canals. (Only a minority of buildings are equipped with septic tanks.) We need alternative solutions to reduce water usage and close nutrient cycles. "
Open for Maintenance" features an accessible prototype for a urine-separating dry toilet and an all-gender urinal combined with a urine treatment reactor. Working with the organic farm Agriluska in the Veneto region, human waste is composted and then reused as fertilizer (the urine is converted to fertilizer in the on-site reactor). On a sociopolitical level, however, maintenance and cleaning are also linked to questions of justice in terms of gender, disability, race, and class. The role of care work is further addressed by the incorporation of tools for changing diapers, washing, and cleaning.
The bathroom. "Open for Maintenance" by Arch+, Summacumfemmer, Büro Juliane Greb, 2023.
The kitchenette
Maintenance is a process, the terms of which need to be negotiated by society. Groups from civil society hold a crucial position in the maintenance of and care for built and social infrastructures. Communicating, supporting each other, and organizing need a range of low threshold spaces for communication and collective care work. Part of "
Open for Maintenance" is a kitchenette that is intended to become a communicative switchboard. Here, the broad network of organizations and activist groups will be represented with their ecological, social, and urban policy demands. Posters, leaflets, and other communication material gathered in the kitchenette will reflect and promote the work surrounding the social struggles for the right to the city by organizations based in Venice and Germany. The design of the kitchenette’s billboard refers to the work İlan Panosu / Billboard / Plakatwand, which Maria Eichhorn has been exhibiting since in 1995 in different iterations.
The Kitchenette. "Open for Maintenance" by Arch+, Summacumfemmer, Büro Juliane Greb, 2023.
The meeting space
Housing in urban agglomerations is becoming increasingly unaffordable, partly due to touristification, which in the case of Venice is being further exacerbated by the Biennale in particular. Since the construction sector contributes more than 40 percent to global CO2 emissions building is not always the suitable answer. The social and ecological consequences of these developments are especially felt by the vulnerable groups who perform (spatial) care work all over the world, maintaining and caring for the building stock. The entangled crises besetting architecture can only be solved through new forms of collaboration between experts and civil society. The meeting space in the German Pavilion creates an opportunity for that kind of exchange. Here visitors can playfully engage with what they have seen and experienced. They can create bags from materials left over from the 2022 Art Biennale using patterns created by Haus der Materialisierung, or they can play the board game Trivial Circuit developed by LXSY Architekten in cooperation with Impact Hub Berlin and Concular, which helps to understand the complex reorganization of the planning processes involved in circular construction.
The Meeting Space. "Open for Maintenance" by Arch+, Summacumfemmer, Büro Juliane Greb, 2023.
The workshop program maintenance 1:1
During the Biennale, the curators, in cooperation with the Sto Foundation’s and AIT Dialog's Venice Biennale Lab series, are organizing a workshop program that seeks to prove a fundamental idea of "
Open for Maintenance": Only a social turn in architecture will lead us to sustainable practice. For the program, architecture students and apprentices of the trades will work with local organizations on specific projects in Venice that focus on the care, repair, and maintenance of existing buildings, as well as valorization and recognition of the work involved. Participants will upgrade sanitary facilities, build ramps, design furniture for the community, paint fences, and repair roofs.
The program supports existing material and social (infra)structures counteracting the negative effects of Venice’s commercialization and actively promoting the social inclusion of underprivileged groups. The fully equipped workshop and material repository in the German Pavilion serves as a productive infrastructure and a starting point for the interventions around the city. The participants will live together during the workshops’ duration, fostering a dialogue that will be consolidated by a networking event in the fall of 2023.
