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Art in Architecture

Design competition for display cases in the entrance and exit areas of the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy

Design sketch: Schemes of three people in front of oversized stack of books.

Rustling Papers, competition entry by Judith Raum, Berlin 2023

Back in November 2022, the Jewish Museum Berlin (JMB) invited ten artists and artist duos to design artworks for the display cases in the entrance and exit areas of the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy. The works were to reflect the functions and activities of the Academy. The Federal Government Commissioner for Art and Media made a total of € 73,000 available for the realization of the project Kunst am Bau (“Art in Architecture”).

Past exhibition

Map with all buildings that belong to the Jewish Museum Berlin. The W. M. Blumenthal Academy is marked in green

Where

W. M. Blumenthal Academy, Diaspora Garden
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
(Opposite the Museum)

Partition walls made of wooden slats and grids in an industrial hall, to which graphic design drawings are attached.

Design presentation Kunst am Bau (Art in Architecture) 2023, Jewish Museum Berlin, photo and exhibition design: Anna Reindl

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.

Dark-haired woman with white T-shirt and black jacket looks friendly into the camera. Her right arm leans on a window sill of an old stately building.

Judith Raum, winner of the Kunst am Bau competition to design the entrance area of the JMB’s W. Michael Blumenthal Academy, photo: Samira Mosca

Competitors

Artists and artist duos

  • Maximiliane Baumgartner, With the book trolley, 2023, competition entry; Düsseldorf 2023
  • bellu&bellu (Artistic Duo), Untitled, 2023, competition entry Berlin 2023
  • Anca Benera und Arnold Estefan (Artistic Duo), THE IMPOSSIBLE ARCHIVE, 2023, competition entry; Vienna 2023
  • Arnold Dreyblatt, RESERVE_VOIR, 2023, competition entry; Berlin 2023
  • Ofri Lapid and Marija Petrovic (Artistic Duo), Fragmente des Alltäglichen (“Everyday Fragments”), 2023 competition entry; Berlin 2023
  • Michaela Melián, Ein Ort für Gustav Metzger (“A Place for Gustav Metzger”), 2023, competition entry; Hamburg and Munich 2023
  • Judith Raum, Rustling Papers, 2023, competition entry; Berlin 2023
  • Aura Rosenberg, o. T., 2023, competition entry; New York und Berlin
  • Silke Wagner, Schalom Shalom, 2023, competition entry; Frankfurt am Main 2023
The Jury

Specialist Judges

  • Alice Koegel, Exhibition Director and Curator / Nationalgalerie / Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, National Museums in Berlin – Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
  • Prof. Karina Nimmerfall, University of Cologne, Professor for Interdisciplinary Artistic and Media Art Practice and Theory
  • Marcel Odenbach, artist, Emeritus Professor at Düsseldorf Art Academy

Expert Judges

  • Hetty Berg, Jewish Museum Berlin Foundation, Director
  • Shelley Harten, Jewish Museum Berlin Foundation, Curator

Deputy Judge

  • Prof. Dr. Fiona McGovern, Assistant Professor of Curatorial Practice and Art Education, University of Hildesheim

Exhibition Information at a Glance

  • When 5 Jul to 10 Sep 2023
  • Where W. M. Blumenthal Academy, Diaspora Garden
    Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
    See Location on Map

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