Andres Lepik: Curating Architecture as Critical Practice

Presenting architecture in the form of exhibitions is fundamentally different to curating art. The objects are not present to the visitor – architecture exhibitions always depend on visual representation through drawings, models, photography and / or other media. Only in the 1:1 pavilion can architecture present itself as a real and physical experience. But while the curatorial process in art exhibitions has a long history of theorisation, the same has applied to curating architecture for a relatively short period. The lecture is based on practical examples from more than 20 years of curatorial practice in Berlin, New York and Munich.

Andres Lepik studied art history graduating with a Ph.D. on Architectural Models in the Renaissance. From 1994 he worked as Curator at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin where he presented the exhibitions Renzo Piano (2000), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Berlin (2001 with MoMA) and Content. Rem Koolhaas and AMO/OMA in 2003. From 2007 to 2011 he was Curator at the Architecture and Design Department in The Museum of Modern Art, New York, presenting the exhibition Small Scale, Big Change. New Architectures of Social Engagement in 2010. In 2011/12 he was Loeb-Fellow at Graduate School of Design in Harvard University. In 2012 he took the position as Professor for Architecture History and Curatorial Practice and Director of Architecture Museum of Technische Universität Munich. In Munich he presented 2013/14 AFRITECTURE. Building Social Change, Lina Bo Bardi 1OO in 2015 and most recently Does Permanence Matter? Ephemeral Urbanism.