Von der Weltausstellung zur Bauausstellung

Architectural exhibitions have a long and surprising history. Regine Heß has examined them as a subject of architectural history research, with their own genealogy and impact, and demonstrates that architectural exhibitions have a tradition that dates back to the world’s fairs, industrial exhibitions, arts and crafts exhibitions, and colonial exhibitions of the 19th century. It was the most renowned figures in architecture, design, and landscape architecture who further developed the typologies of large-scale exhibitions and adapted them to the new format of the architecture exhibition. Drawing on 17 exhibitions—some of which have been researched for the first time—Von der Weltausstellung zur Bauausstellung (From the World’s Fair to the Building Exhibition) offers an architectural history of major exhibitions and traces their development from the 1851 World’s Fair in London to the 1957 Interbau (International Building Exhibition) in West Berlin, examining aspects such as the representational power of architecture, industrial architecture, and the racist practice of othering.

Regine Heß is an architectural historian and teaches at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). She is a member of the editorial board of Kritische Berichte – Zeitschrift für Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften. Most recently she has worked as a senior researcher at the Chair of Architectural History and Curatorial Practice at TUM and at the Chair of Construction Heritage and Preservation at ETH Zurich.