The BMW Guggenheim Lab Berlin - a temporary public space and online forum encouraging open dialogue about issues related to urban life - announces First Three Weeks of Programs: more than 100 free events, public programs, lectures, discussions, workshops and city tours.
curated by Maria Nicanor
BMW Guggenheim Lab Announces First
Three Weeks of Programs
Berlin/New York, NY, May 21, 2012 – The BMW Guggenheim Lab Berlin—a
temporary public space and online forum encouraging open dialogue about
issues related to urban life—will present more than one hundred free events and
a broad range of public programs from June 15 to July 29, 2012. Located in the
Pfefferberg complex in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, the Lab will host
lectures, discussions, and hands-on workshops, as well as off-site tours of the
urban environment throughout Berlin.
The BMW Guggenheim Lab Berlin will explore new concepts and designs for city
life. The Berlin program is focused on the importance of making one’s own city,
with programs designed to empower residents with tools and ideas to proactively
participate in city change. Berlin is the second stop on the Lab’s six-year, nine-
city global tour, which began in New York last August.
"We are very excited that the BMW Guggenheim Lab Berlin will focus on the
importance of doing and making, a theme rooted in Berlin’s proud tradition of
citizen participation and ground-up philosophy," states Lab curator Maria Nicanor.
"Our aim is to foster meaningful dialogue with the residents of Berlin and explore
the community's interests as well as ideas that have relevance all around the
world."
Solomon R.
The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a combination public forum, community center,
and think tank that is open to all and that encourages people to participate,
discuss, and share their knowledge and ideas. ―The Guggenheim has long
believed that art and culture can be agents of social change, but the scope and
scale of the BMW Guggenheim Lab, which takes programming out into the fabric
of people’s daily lives in cities around the world, is a first for the Guggenheim,‖
says Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and
Foundation. ―As a city respected worldwide for its creativity and critical mind,
Berlin was a natural choice for this pioneering project.‖
All programs have been created by the Berlin Lab Team (José Gómez-Márquez,
Rachel Smith, Corinne Rose and Carlo Ratti), an international, multidisciplinary
team of innovators and experts led by Guggenheim curator Maria Nicanor, with
contributions from local organizations. Programs concentrate on four main topics
organized around the theme of the Lab’s first two-year cycle, Confronting
Comfort:
Empowerment Technologies (June 15–24)
José Gómez-Márquez, The Little Devices Group at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Boston, and a pioneer in the field of health
technology innovations, will lead a series of ―do-it-yourself‖ workshops
focused on building one’s own city by ―hacking‖ and transforming urban
spaces.
Dynamic Connections (June 27–July 6)
Rachel Smith, principal transport planner with AECOM, based in
Brisbane, Australia, will lead programs focused on sustainable mobility
and community-building.
Urban Micro-Lens (July 7–18)
Berlin-based artist Corinne Rose, who works with photography and video
and teaches at the Bern University of the Arts, Switzerland, will explore
the intersection between psychology, architecture, and art with programs
that address perception, communication, and emotions in city life.
SenseAble City (July 19–29)
Architect and engineer Carlo Ratti, who practices in Italy and directs the
SenseAble City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Boston, will lead programs examining how new technologies are
transforming the way we understand, design, and live in cities.
For more information on the first three weeks of programming, from June 15 to
July 6, please see the website.
Programs such as guided tours, field trips, and walking workshops will meet at
the Lab before moving off-site. All events are free of charge and
will be offered in German or English with German translation.
About the BMW Guggenheim Lab:
Housed in a mobile structure designed by Tokyo architecture firm Atelier Bow-
Wow, the BMW Guggenheim Lab launched in the summer of 2011 in New York.
Over six years, the BMW Guggenheim Lab will travel to a total of nine cities
around the world in three successive two-year cycles, each with its own theme
and structure. Following Berlin—the second stop of the tour—the BMW
Guggenheim Lab will travel to Mumbai in winter 2012-13. The Lab is curated by
David van der Leer and Maria Nicanor of the Guggenheim Museum.
The BMW Guggenheim Lab's website (bmwguggenheimlab.org), blog
(blog.bmwguggenheimlab.org), interactive Urbanology game, and online
communities further extend the opportunity to participate in this multidisciplinary
urban experiment worldwide. Visitors are invited to become members of the
BMW Guggenheim Lab's dedicated social communities at:
twitter.com/bmwgugglab and #BGLab
facebook.com/bmwguggenheimlab
youtube.com/bmwguggenheimlab
flickr.com/bmwguggenheimlab
foursquare.com/bmwgugglab
About the Architecture and Design
Lightweight and compact, with a structural skeleton built of carbon fiber, the
mobile structure for the first cycle of the BMW Guggenheim Lab has been
designed by the Tokyo architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow as a ―traveling toolbox.‖
The structure’s lower half is a present-day version of the Mediterranean loggia,
an open space that can easily be configured to accommodate the Lab’s various
programs. The upper part of the structure houses a flexible rigging system and is
wrapped in a semitransparent mesh. Through this external skin, visitors are able
to catch glimpses of the extensive apparatus of ―tools‖ that may be lowered or
raised from the canopy according to the Lab’s programming needs, transforming
the ground space into a formal lecture setting, a stage for a celebratory
gathering, or a workshop with tables for hands-on experiments.
The graphic identity for the first cycle of the BMW Guggenheim Lab has been
developed by Seoul-based graphic designers Sulki & Min.
The BMW Guggenheim Lab Berlin will be presented in collaboration with
ANCB—Metropolitan Laboratory.
Info: bmwguggenheimlab.org.
Guggenheim Foundation
345 Hudson Street, 12th floor
New York, NY 10014
Phone +1 212 423 3500
bmwguggenheimlab.org
Press:
For complete press materials, go to bmwguggenheimlab.org/presskits
For publicity images, go to bmwguggenheimlab.org/pressimages
For publicity videos, go to bmwguggenheimlab.org/pressvideos
User ID = photoservice, Password = presspass
Contacts Germany:
artpress – Ute Weingarten, Marie Skov
(49) 30 4849 6350 // artpress@uteweingarten.de
Adriana Ellermann, Häberlein & Mauerer
(49) 89 3810 8237 // adriana.ellermann@haebmau.de
International:
Kate Lydecker, Ruder Finn Arts & Communications Counselors
212 715 1602 // lydeckerk@ruderfinn.com
Opening June 13, 2012
BMW Guggenheim Lab (Pfefferberg complex)
Northern courtyard (Hof 3)
Schönhauser Allee 176, Berlin
Wed-Fri 2-10pm, Sat-Sun 12-10pm
Admission Free (some programs require online RSVP)