Wonderland 2004 – 2006 / Amsterdam

21 maart 2005, 14:46

9 Countries - 9 Exhibitions A European Architecture Project

11 Austrian architectural teams evolve into 99 European teams.
From June 2004 until March 2006 11 young Austrian architectural teams
tour with an ever-growing architectural travelling exhibition through nine European countries. In each country 11 national teams are added. After the first stations in Bratislava (Slovakia), Prague (Czech Republic) and Berlin (Germany) already 55 teams will present their works at the exhibition in Amsterdam. The last exhibition in 2006 will again take place in Austria with the presentation of 99 European architecture teams.

In September 2002, eleven committed architectural groups started a unique architectural networking project: Wonderland.
Wonderland offers young architectural offices the chance to present themselves to a wider public, while also acting as an innovative type of jump-start. It began with the presentation of the current works of eleven selected architectural teams by means of a specially developed exhibition landscape. It consists of 440 quadratic information carriers made from hardboard plates from the company Funder. They are called pixels.

The success of the exhibition in Austria prompted the continuation of the project in the form of a European tour. In terms of European integration - acting together in one context – respectively eleven teams from the younger generation from a total of nine countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia) are invited to perform on the Wonderland landscape and to present their individual current work.

The young generation of architects works in interdisciplinary, globally interlaced teams. The participants of Wonderland are the nodes of a network, which ignores territorial borders and is constantly extended and consolidated. Every one of these architects is connected with innumerable places and lives in an individual polygamy of these locations. In this sense the exhibition landscape reflects a virtual territory.

4. Station: Amsterdam
The Netherlands have been a major source of inspiration for young architects worldwide over the last years and at the same time “Dutch architecture” became a successful export product. An internship in Holland was a ‘must’ for any young ambitious architects’ curriculum vitae. In fact, this new Golden Era of Dutch architecture endured approximately a decennium, basically the 90ies of the 20th century. The majority of the foreign architects returned to their home countries - few others decided to stay and practice in the Netherlands.

In the current situation of economical stagnation, cultural budgets are cut as never before. But, at the same time, this context gives birth to a new dynamic. The Dutch Wonderland manifestation aims to explore this new situation.

11 ex-pats or 88 reasons to stay in Holland
(by Artgineering and Lehner en Gunther architecten; WONDERLAND trust-partners of the Dutch exhibition)

11 expatriated architectural offices that have chosen the Netherlands as their voluntary exile show 88 aspects of their work at Schiphol. What are these offices that were all established in the post-90s up to now? How do they operate in the given situation? What are their economic and creative strategies? How do the architectural origins of these immigrants influence today’s Dutch architecture? How alien is their work? Or how Dutch have they become? And what on earth are they still doing here?

These and other questions are evoked by the team-selection criteria and the choice of Schiphol as location for the Dutch Wonderland exhibition. The title ‘11 EX-PATS or 88 REASONS TO STAY IN HOLLAND’ prompts a reading of the exhibition beyond a mere documentation of the wide spectrum of architectural production and refers to the specific empowering Dutch context. This context spans a wide range of possible interpretations that put things in a broader perspective, from sentimental to economic, from pragmatic to ecstatic.

The teams participating are encouraged to individually interpret the curatorial concept and to present, reorganize, reproduce their work in a critical and direct way, demonstrating the potentially different and ‘culturally critical’ stance they take toward the changing conditions of the society that they live and work in. This will formulate a possible, if not compulsory, stance to take for the contemporary European architect, and will, one may expect, result in a positive view from the ‘outside-within’ on the Netherlands of today.

Workshop: “Networking”
On April 2nd a workshop is scheduled with the main issue of “networking”. This workshop will be held with all current Wonderland teams and in cooperation with the organization YEA – young european architects. With all 55 Wonderland architectural teams taking part and with the participants of YEA this workshop almost gains the rank of a European symposium of young and innovative architecture.

The European Wonderland Tour
started in June 2004 in Bratislava.
After the current exhibition in Amsterdam it will move on to Paris, Venice, Ljubljana and Zagreb and will finish in Austria (St.Veit/Glan/Carinthia) in June 2006. The closing exhibition in Carinthia will show the present creations of 99 European architectural teams
and thus give unique and complex insight into the future of the European architectural landscape.

This territory, or `Wonderland',
is disclosed by heterogeneous yet connected paths of contemporary architectural practice. A unique European architectural sociotop is coming into existence...

Prices and nominations for WONDERLAND poster series
The wonderland poster series for the exhibitions in Berlin and Prague have been selected among the “100 best posters 2004” by the grand jury of the 100 BESTE POSTER E.V. in Berlin.

Also the WONDERLAND poster series have been nominated for the 16th international poster competition of the FESTIVAL D’AFFICHES DE CHAUMONT where they will take part in the on-site exhibition which will close with the announcement of the three winning posters by June 26th 2005.

4. Station Amsterdam The Netherlands
04th April 2005 29th April 2005

Vernissage
April 1st 2005, 19.00

Location
WTC World Trade Center Schiphol Airport
Schiphol Boulevard 105, 3rd floor, 1118 BG Schiphol Airport Amsterdam The Netherlands

Open dialogue
Anneke Bokern, freelance architect journalist, Amsterdam

Introduction
Dr. Erwin Kubesch, Austrian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ing. Maurits Schaafsma, Senior Planner Schiphol RealEstate

Workshop
The workshop “Networking”
takes place on Saturday, April 2nd in cooperation with YEA Young European Architects.

Opening hours
Monday Friday, 07.00 - 19.00

Entry
free

Internet
www.wonderland.cx :press pictures & additional information

1	Realisatie omvangrijk houten gebouw van Nudus voor Havenbedrijf Rotterdam stap dichterbij woensdag, 20 november
2	Een houten villa genesteld in het bos donderdag, 21 november
3	Museum Kruithuis ’s-Hertogenbosch officieel geopend na zorgvuldige transformatie dinsdag, 19 november
4	Team onder leiding van KAAN Architecten ontwerpt geavanceerd onderzoeksgebouw in Lausanne maandag, 18 november
5	Sereen toevluchtsoord hoog boven de stedelijke drukte woensdag, 20 november

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