Art in Architecture

The Winners

First prize in the competition to design the entrance area of the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy at the JMB in Berlin-Kreuzberg goes to Berlin-based artist Judith Raum (*1977 in Werneck, Germany) for her entry Rustling Papers. The Academy houses the JMB’s archive, education department and library and organizes events to complement the museum's programs.

Judith Raum’s two-part design Rustling Papers is a visual reflection of the Academy’s archive and library, with larger-than-life books, papers and files filling the display cases as if emerging at an angle from the wall and floor. The cases themselves resemble giant shipping crates or book boxes, echoing the truncated cubes of Daniel Libeskind’s architecture. Sculptural objects, walls, floors and ceilings are painted in a pale color, so that the cases radiate into the surrounding area: “It all gives off a pale yellow light, which is disconcerting and arouses curiosity”, says Judith Raum. The sculpture is combined with an audio recording which translates the Academy’s activities into mini-performances. These include readings from documents, as well as statements by Academy staff, spoken by actors and capturing their work, experience and relationship to museum exhibits in a series of short fictional dialogues. The jury was impressed by the artistic technique of making the Academy’s work and materials speak in the form of whispering sources, inspiring the visitor’s own thoughts and speech. They particularly commended the combination of sculptural setting and immaterial narration which “appeals to visitors on different levels in a manner that is at once clear and complex.”

Second prize was awarded to artist Maximiliane Baumgartner for her entry With the Book Trolley.