Trees, Time, Architecture! Design in Constant Transformation
About the exhibition
Trees are not only among the largest, oldest, and most complex living organisms on earth, but they also grow exceptionally slowly – often taking decades or even centuries to reach their full size. This means that they exceed the standards of human life, and their temporality is at odds with the constantly accelerating pace of social, technological, and ecological change. At the same time, we need them now more than ever: locally, to adapt to the new reality of a drastically changing climate, and globally, to stop climate change and perhaps even reverse it one day.
“Trees, Time, Architecture!” uses historical and current international examples to examine the potentials and contradictions of „building on trees“ in architecture and landscape architecture. The exhibition highlights the contrast between the slow growth of trees and the urgency of finding answers to burning ecological and social questions here and now. Trees, both living and dead, can be understood as a functional building material that characterises the built environment through their material and aesthetic qualities. Accordingly, the exhibition looks at the respective use of trees as living, constantly changing organisms and, at the same time, the materials and specific structures that trees produce through their complex growth processes. The entire lifespan is always considered and placed in relation to the temporality of functional requirements, as well as social, architectural, and technological developments. For the first time, this exhibition project addresses the topics of “Tree, Time, Architecture” from a holistic, multidimensional perspective.
Foto: Ferdinand Ludwig
Experimentelles baubotanisches Bauwerk, TU München,
Foto: Kristina Pujkilović
Videostill aus dem Film „Taming the Garden,
Mira Film / Corso Film / Sakdoc Film, 2021
Tonlithographie von C. A. Lebschée, 1855
The project examples, which stem from different cultural contexts and climate zones, underline the need for a paradigm shift from designing finished objects towards designing processes to establish a fruitful and sustainable relationship between trees and buildings. This requires transdisciplinary collaborations that combine scientific approaches with artistic practices, indigenous knowledge, and new technologies. The area’s experimental buildings, experiments, and technical developments in the field of Baubotanik illustrate what such an approach could resemble. At the same time, these examples show the complex, often fruitful, and sometimes contradictory relationship between trees and architecture. The exhibition aims to demonstrate this equally fascinating as well as irritating relationship, as only this makes it possible so seize the opportunities of creating a future worth living for us and most animal and plant species.
The exhibition is organised through space-defining installations and key exhibits that make the temporalspatial dimensions and the role of trees in the global carbon cycle aesthetically tangible. Project examples are presented by photographs, films, models, and drawings, while selected aspects are explored in greater depth using historical documents, tools, and material samples. International projects are displayed, ranging from indigenous
living architecture made from trees to artistic perspectives on the subject and critical reflection on the latest technological developments. In addition, the exhibition space will extend into the surroundings of the Pinakothek der Moderne through initiatives and open-space installations: trees will be temporarily stored under the roof infront of the main entrance of the museum as a walk-in installation, thus presenting them as immediately available commodities in deliberate discrepancy to their longevity. A performative display of the installation will appeal to the public to engage with the exhibition’s themes in an accessible way.
Opening: 12 Marcg 2025, 7 pm
Head of project / Curatorial lead: Ferdinand Ludwig, Kristina Pujkilović
Co-Curation: Andjelka Badnjar Gojnić
Project Coordination: Andres Lepik
Scientific and Curatorial Advisory Board: Noël van Dooren, Sonja Dümpelmann
Graphic Design: strobo B M
Exhibition Design: Buero Kofink Schels
Supported by:
Kulturstiftung des Bundes, PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne e.V.
PROGRAMM ZUR AUSSTELLUNG
Eine Stunde mit... Ferdinand Ludwig und Kristina Pujkilović | Trees Time Architecture
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