Germany’s contribution to the 17th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice next year will be the work of four curators calling themselves Team "2038". Following an open competition, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community chose the team on the recommendation of an expert jury chaired by Peter Cachola Schmal, director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt (Main).

Commenting on the selection, Anne Katrin Bohle, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry, said, "In their proposal, the curators invoke the self-confidence and power of architecture and the responsibility that goes with it. Germany’s contribution to the exhibition promises to attract attention by presenting forward-looking solutions to current social, environmental and economic problems. I congratulate the curators and look forward to seeing their design for the German entry."

The team behind the winning proposal is led by curators Arno Brandlhuber, Olaf Grawert, Nikolaus Hirsch and Christopher Roth. They convinced the jury with their idea of a "future retrospective" looking at architecture in the year 2020 from the perspective of 18 years in the future and “finding that everything had worked out well. Using old and new models and holistic approaches, architects often contributed to successful outcomes. They were part of the response to the major issues of our time, worked hard to make it succeed and reflected on systemic solutions.” The team and its design will be presented in detail in early 2020.

The International Architecture Exhibition, also known as the Venice Architecture Biennale, is the most important event of its kind in the world. The 17th International Architecture Exhibition will be held from Saturday, 23 May, to Sunday, 29 November 2020. The 2020 edition is being curated by architect and scholar Hashim Sarkis, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who has chosen the theme "How will we live together?"

For more information, please visit www.labiennale.org .

About the curators:

Arno Brandlhuber is an architect and urban planner. He has headed the collaborative architectural practice Brandlhuber+ in Berlin since 2006. His work includes architectural and research projects, exhibitions, publications and political interventions. He has been a professor at the Institute of Design and Architecture of the ETH Zurich since 2017.

Olaf Grawert plans, writes and talks about architecture. In various collaborations and media, he addresses the commodification and politicization of space as well as possible strategies for making architecture serve the public again. He has been a research assistant at the ETH Zurich since 2017.

Nikolaus Hirsch is an architect, curator and editor in Frankfurt (Main). He was rector of the Städelschule art institute and director of the Portikus exhibition hall, both in Frankfurt. He also taught at the AA in London and at Columbia University in New York. He is the founder and co-editor of the e-flux Architecture publishing platform.

Christopher Roth is a film director and television producer. His film “Baader” was shown in competition at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Alfred Bauer Prize. His retro-futuristic research project 80*81 (with Georg Diez) yielded 13 books and more than 20 theatre performances. In 2016, he founded the web TV channel space-time.tv.

The films “Legislating Architecture” (2016), “The Property Drama” (2017) and “Architecting after Politics” (2018) grew out of a collaboration between Brandlhuber+ (Arno Brandlhuber, Olaf Grawert) and Christopher Roth. The films were screened at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice in 2016 and the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2017. Since 2018 they have been shown as part of the travelling exhibition “Legislating Architecture – Architecting after Politics”. Brandlhuber, Grawert and Roth work together at the ETH Zurich on the web TV architectural channel station.plus, which they created and operate.