Metaxy : Between Destruction and Reconstruction

Metaxy : Between Destruction and Reconstruction

Exploring artistic and discursive perspectives on the complex processes of reconstruction.

10 September bis 6 December 2026

The KfW Stiftung in collaboration with the Academy of Arts, Berlin, is organising a programme of discussions and artistic events as part of the exhibition.

About the exhibition
Wars, conflicts and the consequences of the climate crisis are destroying houses, cities and landscapes across the globe. Millions of people are losing their homes. Rebuilding these living environments is therefore an urgent task. However, if reconstruction is reduced to a technical undertaking – as a return to normality, a supposed “zero hour” or an opportunity for capital-driven investment – we lose sight of the fact that it is not only buildings and cities that are destroyed but also social relationships, ecological structures, shared ways of life and historical contexts. The crucial questions regarding reconstruction therefore arise before any building work begins.

The project “Metaxy : Between Destruction and Reconstruction” – a cooperation between the Akademie der Künste and ARCH+ – begins precisely at this point, with an exhibition and a four-part programme of events. Metaxy, an ancient Greek word meaning “between”, refers to a space in which the past and the future, memory and new beginnings, as well as loss and hope, coexist. Reconstruction does not mean a return to a previous state but rather the uncovering of connections that have been torn apart.

Taking the Akademie building on Hanseatenweg as a prime example of post-1945 reconstruction, the exhibition presents an exploration of the colonial and Nazi history of Berlin’s Hansaviertel district and perspectives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Israel, Yemen, Palestine, Poland, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and the USA. The exhibition architecture itself is the project’s largest exhibit: it superimposes the site’s former buildings onto today’s exhibition halls. This 1:1-scale palimpsest makes the history of the site tangible through the in-between space.

An event space forming part of the exhibition provides a venue for discussions, talks and artistic and musical performances. A participatory educational programme featuring guided tours and lecture-performance walks, as well as a special issue of the magazine ARCH+, explores the exhibition’s themes in greater depth.

More information as well as opening hours can be found on the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, website.
 

Events and Accompanying Programme

Metaxy
10.9.2026, 18–21 Uhr
Talk and lecture with Open Group, Mitch McEwen, Nir Evron
Moderation: Johanna M. Keller

Wars and disasters plunge entire societies into a state of limbo, caught between a destroyed past and a future yet to be shaped.

The Ukrainian artist collective Open Group and the US architect V. Mitch McEwen explore how new forms of coexistence can emerge under these conditions. The Israeli artist Nir Evron illustrates how history, the media and violence intertwine in the Middle East conflict and brings to light hidden historical connections that are often overlooked in the present day.

Houses
11.9.2026, 18:00–21:00
Talk, lecture and staged reading with Kees Christiaanse, Anna Dobrova, Salma Samar Damluji, Sasha Marianna Salzmann
Moderation: Johanna M. Keller

Houses are places of everyday life, of memory and of community. When they are lost, it is not only the buildings that disappear but also social relationships and ways of life. Reconstruction is therefore both a structural and a social task. Drawing on the work of CO-HATY and Kees Christiaanse on Ukraine and Salma Samar Damluji on Yemen, this event explores how architecture can help shape the future of community life.

A staged reading by Sasha Marianna Salzmann provides the framework for the evening. She explores the “in-between” as a place where different memories, senses of belonging and life stories coexist without resolving their contradictions.

Soils
13.10.2026, 18:00–21:00
Talk and lecture with Ola Hassanain, Syrbanism, Hala Alnaji
Moderation: Friederike Landau-Donnelly

Soil is a contested foundation for reconstruction. It determines who is allowed to stay and who is allowed to return, and which traces are preserved and which are erased. Long after the fighting has ended, damaged ecosystems and devastated landscapes bear witness to the violence.

The works of Syrbanism on Syria, Hala Alnaji on the Gaza Strip and Ola Hassanain on Sudan make it clear that reconstruction must address the conflicts surrounding land, property and memory.

Times
06.12.2026, 14:00–17:00
Talk and lecture with Magdalena Wnek (Toposcape), Maciej Kaufman (Archigrest), Ines Weizman, Eyal Weizman
Moderation: Friederike Landau-Donnelly

Reconstruction does not begin at “zero hour”.
At the Trümmerberg in Warsaw, Archigrest and topoScape demonstrate how new habitats are emerging from the legacy of the war through ecological processes of regeneration and succession. Ines and Eyal Weizman make it clear that the act of destruction must be reconstructed so that reconstruction does not become ahistorical. In this way, time itself becomes a material of reconstruction.

Metaxy : ZWISCHENSTÜCKE
The musical and performative ZWISCHENSTÜCKE are a standalone format within “Metaxy : Between Destruction and Reconstruction”. They bridge the exhibition and the programme and open up new ways of perceiving the art.

An ensemble featuring Immanuel Schuhmacher (concept and percussion), Paul Hübner (trumpet), Kioomars Musayyebi (santur) and Nurit Stark (violin and viola) moves through the exhibition and event spaces. Musical interludes and performative inserts pick up on conversations and situations, alter the perspective on the exhibition and shape the transitions between individual programme events. The four musicians work at the intersection of interpretation, composition, performance and improvisation.

ZWISCHENSTÜCKE will take place during the events on the following days without a specific time being announced:
Opening 9 Sep from 18:30
Metaxy 10 Sep 18:00 – 21:00
Houses 11 Sep 18:00 – 21:00
Soils 13 Oct 18:00 – 21:00
Times 6 Dec 12:00 – 15:00
 

Metaxy : Between Destruction and Reconstruction is a project by the Akademie der Künste in collaboration with ARCH+ in the frame of the Berlin Art Week 2026.

The event programme is realised with the kind support of and in cooperation with the KfW Stiftung.

Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
Further supporters: Gesellschaft der Freunde der Akademie der Künste, Hans Sauer Stiftung
Cooperation partners: Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission e. V.; IBA Ukraine; OFFEN FÜR KULTUR / Hansabibliothek (Stadtbibliothek Berlin-Mitte); Royal College of Art; SCHAUSTELLE Nachkriegsmoderne; Spreepark Art Space; Ukrainisches Institut in Deutschland