On February 10, the Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts) in Berlin opened the Spanish photography exhibition UNFINISHED, which won the Golden Lion at the 2016 Venice Biennale.
Spain is one of the countries where the economic crisis has most severely affected architectural practice. Many publicly and privately funded buildings were under construction when the crisis hit, and a large number of them were left unfinished.
The UNFINISHED exhibition, now on display in the German capital until March 18, presents contemporary architecture that has shed the excesses of the pre-crisis era, inviting viewers to perceive it as something unfinished, constantly developing and evolving. Featuring 55 photographs by seven photographers, the exhibition offers an optimistic outlook on the future, giving voice to a professional attitude that has learned to adapt to an inherited reality, using it to drive excellence among architects—a commendable approach serving humanity during a time of profound uncertainty for architectural practice.
The exhibition opening was attended by Jeanine Meerapfel, President of the Akademie der Künste; María Victoria Morera Villuendas, Spanish Ambassador to Berlin; Wilfried Wang, Deputy Director of the Academy's Architecture Section; Francisco Mangado, General Coordinator of Spanish Biennales; and Carlos Quintáns, curator of the exhibition.
The opening event also featured a half-day symposium with Spanish and German architects. Discussions focused on the general conditions of professional practice, particularly from the perspective of the younger generation, and how to achieve design excellence in the face of economic crisis and constant change.
Representing Spanish architecture were the offices of Bosch. Capdeferro from Girona, TeD'A Arquitectes from Palma de Mallorca, and Juan Domingo Santos/Carmen Moreno from Granada. The German contingent included Jan Schombara, Johanna Meyer-Grohbrügge and Sohrab Zafari.
For more information, visit the website of the Berlin Academy of Arts
This article was written by Javier García Librero. The translation is powered by AI.
