ANNOUNCEMENT 31 January 2014
Frankfurt /Main
Mission: Postmodern
Heinrich Klotz and the
Wunderkammer DAM
10 May –19 October 2014
Deutsches Architekturmuseum DAM,
Frankfurt/Main
Heinrich Klotz, Founder of the DAM, 1977 © Photo: Freek van Arkel, 1988.
OPENING: Fri. 9 May 2014, 19.00
PRESS CONFERENFCE: Thurs. 8 May 2014, 11.00
Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt is celebrating its opening in
1984 with an exhibition on the founding director, Heinrich Klotz and postmodern
architecture.
Heinrich Klotz’s hitherto unpublished diary recordings were the starting point for marking
DAM’s 30th anniversary by looking back over the turbulent years when the museum was
established. Dictating to a tape recorder, Klotz described how from scratch he built up what is
today one of the most renowned museum collections in an intense dialogue with the most
important architects of the time – Frank Gehry, Hans Hollein, Rem Koolhaas, Richard Meier,
Aldo Rossi, Denise Scott Brown, Robert Venturi and many others. The recordings also offer an
insider’s view of the genesis of Frankfurt’s “Museumsufer”, its row of museums along the banks
of the River Main. Deutsches Architekturmuseum was inaugurated on June 1, 1984 as the first
new museum on the “Museumsufer”. Klotz had to fight a number of battles before taking his
place in the new museum landscape, about which his diaries provide valuable information.
“Wunderkammer”
The “Wunderkammer” (cabinet of curiosities) featuring the most important works Klotz
acquired between 1979 and 1989 is the focal point of the exhibition. It includes objects which
would not tend to be associated with an architecture museum's collection, such as an oil
painting by Martin Kippenberger and a collage by Christo. Klotz’ diary recordings have made it
possible, for the first time, to tell the story “behind the objects”. One of the exhibition’s
highlights is a 6 x 6-metre portal which Klotz managed to save from the most influential
architecture exhibition of past decades – it was part of the “Strada Novissima” at the first
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Mossion: Postmodern
Frankfurt /Main, 31/01/2014
Architecture Biennale, which took place in Venice in 1980 (portal design: Thomas Gordon
Smith, USA).
Postmodern architecture
However, the subject of the exhibition will not only be individual objects but also the way they
have been orchestrated as time has gone by. Accordingly, there will be a characteristic “booth”
from the opening exhibition – “Revising Modernism – postmodern Architecture from 1960
through 1980”. This exhibition was as controversial as postmodern architecture itself. The fact
that postmodern architecture was not only a different style of building but also describes the
changed approach of many architects was expressed in Klotz’s formula: “The naked blocks of
modern purpose-built architecture provoke imaginative and clichéd shapes in response.”
Postmodern architecture has shaped Frankfurt to a greater extent than any other city in
Germany – Schirn Kunsthalle, Messeturm, the buildings on Saalgasse and Museum für
Moderne Kunst are only a few examples dating from this period. However, postmodern
architecture has also met with hostility. From today’s point of view, the basic approach Klotz
called for, one of plurality, has prevailed – irony, pop motifs and historical quotations have long
since become accepted in architecture.
Heinrich Klotz
Born in 1935, Heinrich Klotz first came into contact with postmodern architecture as a young
visiting professor in Yale in 1969-70. He was a professor at the University of Marburg as of 1972.
From 1979 he headed Deutsches Architekturmuseum. The Cologne-based architect Oswald
Mathias Ungers was tasked with housing DAM in a villa dating from 1912. The latter’s
conversion into the world’s first architecture museum with programmatically striking
architecture elicited a strong global response. In 1989, Klotz moved to Karlsruhe where he
established the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) and the Design Academy. Klotz died in
Karlsruhe on June 1, 1999.
Accompanying program
-To mark the actual anniversary on June 1, from May 31 a symposium will be held, followed
by a celebration.
-On the occasion of the Night of the Museums on May 10 there will be a 1980s party.
-Guided tours of the city visiting postmodern locations in Frankfurt and a lecture series on
postmodern architecture are also being planned.
1984: One subject, two museums
Our neighbors on “Museumsufer” will also be featuring the year 1984 – on July 11 an exhibition
will open at Museum Angewandte Kunst entitled “1984 – Zeit zwischen den Zeiten” (1984 – a
time between times). The focus will be on fashion, music and pop culture. There are plans for a
joint events program.
Publication
A special issue of the magazine ARCH+ will be appearing to mark the exhibition.
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Mossion: Postmodern
Frankfurt /Main, 31/01/2014
Press photos for announcements and for the duration of the exhibition at
www.dam-online.de/press
24 may 2014 – 24 august 2014
BRIDGING OSTEND –
Points of time at closest range
8 november 2014 – 19 April 2015
HIGH-RISE CITY FRANKFURT –
Buildings and Visions since 1945
DEUTSCHES ARCHITEKTURMUSEUM
Press and Public Relations
Schaumainkai 43, 60596 Frankfurt/Main, Germany, www.dam-online.de
Stefanie Lampe, M.A.
T +49 (0)69 212 36318 \ F +49 (0)69 212 36386
Stefanie.lampe@stadt-frankfurt.de
Susanne Lehmann, M.A.
Tel.: +49 (0)69 212 31326\ Fax: +49 (0)69 212 36386
susanne.lehmann@stadt-frankfurt.de
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