Most of us have this one favorite building we cannot stop thinking about. Some fill their sketchbooks with it, others might even put an artwork of it on their walls. In this moment, an experience turns into something more than just a memory; it becomes a story.

“Archistories: Architecture in Art,” the first exhibition after the reopening of the Orangerie at Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, aims to unravel architecture’s potential as a semantic device. In a chronological narrative the exhibits meander from paintings through sculptures to installations showcasing the lens of selected artists and architects. They not only show the progression of art and design objects depicting the built environment but also give a clear run-down of their evolution.
The limited space of the Orangerie poses the question which “Archistories” are crucial to creating a curatorial narrative beyond the obvious—without exploding it into too many fragments. Walking between the white walls, the show’s topics feel more spread out instead of creating unexpected connections.
As a glimpse of queer presence in the show, New York Short Stories – Gay Pride Parade (1998) by Michael Wesely depicts the streets of New York filled with multiple colors merging in a time-lapse of human activity. The exhibit gives a hint of what, to us, architecture really is about: spaces, people, and the ones left unseen. Though a chronological order encapsulates a didactic quality, in this case it prevents the formation of the in-betweens. “Archistories” does not fully bridge the gap of reciting history while also leaving space for each visitor’s own place in the storytelling.

We were left with the question: What difference does it make for us as future planners to not only showcase the presence but rather the perspective of people oftentimes not considered by designers?

ck. & lk.