In Medias Res #2: Architecture in Motion

As part of the multi-year program series In Medias Res: Media, (Still) Moving comes the second chapter of its accompanying series of publications, In Medias Res #2: Architecture in Motion. With a decided focus on a material, visual, and historical analysis of the architecture of the Luftgaukommando, the issue presents both an in-depth investigation of its historical development as well as discussions on the political ramifications of the continued presence of buildings from the Nazi era.

After a previous focus on questions of historiography and the archive, In Medias Res #2: Architecture in Motion continues Fluentum's ongoing investigation into the history of its grounds with a focus on its architecture and surrounding material culture, both past and present. It does so by combining formal surveys, critical essays, artist contributions, and visual collages, dissecting the manifold layers hiding in plain sight. Central for this investigation is the idea of the palimpsest, also referenced by architects Matthias Sauerbruch and David Wegener, who give insight into their process of remodeling the former military facility to become an exhibition space. With the fundamental overlapping of times, people, but also political ideologies – its palimpsestic quality, so to speak –, the former Luftgaukommando is an emblematic site for investigating the politicization of built forms, as contributions by architecture historian Petra Kind, artist and photographer Daniel Poller, and architecture theorist Stephan Trüby make apparent. Following these attempts to formalize and categorize, the contributions by artists Julian Irlinger and Anja Kirschner allow for a necessary interrogation of the methods at play when knowledge is generated.

In Medias Res #2: Architecture in Motion not only attempts to historicize and record, but raises questions about the presence of ruinous, failed ideologies—their strategies of violence, aesthetic power, and propaganda, as well as contemporary debates about their (dis)continuities in the here and now.

In Medias Res #2: Architecture in Motion was edited by project curators Dennis Brzek and Junia Thiede. Berlin-based studio HIT is responsible for the design of the publication series. Generous support for the research underlying the publications is provided by the Allied Museum.