Anniversary exhibition: expansive architecture divides Hamburger Bahnhof's historic hall

A quarter of a century Hamburger Bahnhof: The Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin is now celebrating its anniversary as another house of the National Gallery of Art. The exhibition Church for Sale - 25 Years Hamburger Bahnhof, conceived for this occasion, represents a unique combination of an architecture conceived especially for the event and a show of works presented within it; it opens its doors on November 28. The title is derived from a series of works by Edgar Arceneaux of the same name - it houses billboards from the insolvent and vacant city of Detroit advertising the sale of church buildings and spaces.

All of the artists on display, including Arceneaux himself, share the common thread of seeing their creative work as political activity. In doing so, they critique violence, aggression, exclusion, and the lack of protection of essential commons, and examine the social as well as cultural vulnerability of human existence. Exhibits include sculptures, photographs, prints, wall and video works by Edgar Arceneaux, Siah Armajani, Christoph Büchel, Tom Burr, Claire Fontaine, Jenny Holzer, Alfredo Jaar, Emily Jacir, Carolyn Lazard, Park McArthur, Rodney McMillian, Bruce Nauman, Cady Noland, Ruben Ochoa, Santiago Sierra and Kara Walker. They all come from both the in-house collection and the Haubrok Collection.

The architectural part belonging to Church for Sale was designed by the bplus office. It uses the area around the museum building and opens up a critical view of the development plan as well as the not yet fully clarified future of the building ensemble. Thus, with the help of a wall, spatiality is created from the alignment of the building boundary line, where previously only two-dimensionality existed. In this way, the Historic Hall is split into two parts from north to south. The exhibition will run until June 19, 2022.