Beautiful Living – Architectural Visions from 1900 to Today

The topic of housing is more relevant than ever. How and where we live influences our well-being and shapes our behavior and identity. Throughout history, artists and architects have initially imagined their visions of future architecture through drawings. However, architectural drawings from the past are not only tools for idea generation or mediums for documenting built projects. As "receptacles of inner and outer life" (Aby Warburg), they also provide insights into the architect's attitude and the spirit of the times. Based on this cultural studies approach, the Kunsthalle Tübingen focuses on artistic architectural drawing as an art form of the last hundred years. Through designs, as well as selected models and sculptures from the 20th century to the present, it illustrates how societal and technological changes have influenced new housing concepts and urban visions from artists and architects. The exhibition pathway leads from expressionist utopias of a nature-oriented future world architecture, through the functionalist and constructivist housing and urban concepts of the 1920s, to the science fiction architecture of the 1960s, and finally to experimental, culture-critical anti-utopias of the post-war period and postmodernism. With digital transformation, new design techniques today produce surprising architectural visions. Traditional architectural drawing is rarely used anymore. Computer-generated illustrations and AI design techniques offer artists and architects new possibilities. Today, hybrid combinations of both handcrafted and digital drawings are also emerging. Last but not least, digital transformation challenges us to existentially and contemporarily reflect on our ideas of what humane urban living in the future looks like. Concept and curator: Dr. Nicole Fritz An exhibition of the Kunsthalle Tübingen in cooperation with the German Architecture Museum, Frankfurt am Main (Director: Peter Cachola Schmal) Experimental Lab: In cooperation with Prof. Dipl. Ing. Bettina Kraus, State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, and Prof. Dipl. Ing. Lars Uwe Bleher, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences.