Show & TellMarch 13, 2014 – June 15, 2014

The Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München is among the largest specialised architectural collections in Europe. The larger theme of the exhibition “SHOW & TELL – Architectural (Hi)Stories from the Collection” is the archive and its variegated materials, which are significant not least of all because inscribed directly onto each object preserved there is a story, one that must be narrated and investigated again and again. The collection’s inherent historicity is presented through more than forty incisive exemplars. Planning materials, sketches, models, letters, diaries, lecture manuscripts, and plaster reliefs: each object from the architectural collection suggests a process that is impelled by an architectural intention, but also tells its own tale.We hope these objects and their stories will heighten curiosity about this singular collection, will stimulate the pursuit of historic traces, the ferreting out of unfamiliar or remote sources, the wresting from them of fresh interpretations or and explanations for past events: for this is what accounts for the fascination of an archive. In order to maintain itself as a vibrant place of history and of the present, of research, teaching, and presentation, every museum collection must continually expand and reinvigorate itself from fresh viewpoints. For this reason, contemporary architects such as Johnstonmarklee, Grafton, Jürgen Mayer H., David Chipperfield, and Toyo Ito have been invited to participate in the exhibition “SHOW & TELL” through personal contributions. In direct conjunction with the exhibition, we are launching a new project that is designed to open new sources of knowledge to the collection. In many branches of historiography, the documentation of experience via narrative is referred to as “oral history,” and may also take cinematic form. Screened in the exhibition will be the first filmic documents of contemporary reports by major architects and city planners. This exhibition provides behind-the-scenes insights along with a broader overview, and strives to mobilise dialogue between historical and contemporary materials to generate processes of questioning about the collection’s significance, orientation, and future perspectives.

Curators | Hilde Strobl mit Klaus Altenbuchner, Hanna Böhm und Markus Lanz
Exhibition design | Reem Almannai, Markus Sowa mit Lisa Bucher
Graphic design | Hannes Aechter
Sponsors | PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne e.V., Baywobau