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CONTENT.
Rem Koolhaas/OMA/AMO – Buildings, projects and concepts since 1996 November 14, 2003 - January 18, 2004
New National Gallery

Duration November 14, 2003 - January 18, 2004

Location New National Gallery

The exhibition was made possible by the Friends of the National Gallery.

Rem Koolhaas, born in Rotterdam in 1944, is one of the most internationally famous contemporary architects. With his office “Office for Metropolitan Architecture” (OMA), founded in 1975, and the associated think tank “AMO”, he plans and realizes projects of a wide variety of origins worldwide. Due to his radical planning methods and his influential theory, he still defies classification today. In 2000 he received the Pritzker Prize, the highest award for architects. So far, Koolhaas is hardly represented in Germany. It wasn't until 1989, with his project at the Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe, that he became known in this country.

The reason for the CONTENT exhibition is the completion of several buildings by Koolhaas/OMA in Europe, Asia and the United States: In addition to the Dutch embassy in Berlin with the unique concept of the “Trajekt”, a street leading through the entire building, the concert hall “ Casa da Musica” in Porto (Portugal) and the “Seattle Public Library”. Work has just begun on the foundations for the new headquarters of China's largest television network, CCTV, in Beijing - it will be one of the largest buildings in the world. This current project is presented in detail for the first time with models, drawings and diagrams.

CONTENT is organized according to thematic focus. Represented are realized and unrealized designs for private houses (House in Bordeaux, 1998; house on tropical island, 1999; Haus Taschen, 2000) and museum projects (expansion of the Whitney Museum, New York, 2001; Flick Museum in Zurich, 2001; Los Angeles County Museum, 2000-2002; Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas, 2000). The high-rise plans (Hyperbuilding, Bangkok, 1996; Universal Headquarters, Los Angeles, 1996) are presented with sensational models. The Prada Shop in SoHo with its spectacular interior design and the urban development plan for the Ruhr area will also be presented. In October 2003, Koolhaas completed the McCormick Tribune Campus Center, a student center in Chicago, which expanded Mies van der Rohe's 1954 Commons Building at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

For Koolhaas/OMA, the theoretical approach and the analysis of AMO based on intensive research are always important in the conception. This includes, for example, research into the corporate identity of the European Union and urban development. In addition, intensive contact and exchange with the visual arts are central elements of Koolhaas' thinking and planning. Contributions specially designed for the exhibition, such as an installation by the New York artist Tony Oursler, a film project by the video artist Jeff Preiss and photos by the well-known German photographer Candida Höfer, underline this approach.

The exhibition in the upper hall of the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin marks a high point in Koolhaas's long-standing engagement with Mies van der Rohe. CONTENT is an exciting dialogue between a master builder of the avant-garde of the 20th century and a pioneering contemporary that takes us into the 21st century. CONTENT is therefore a “retro-active manifesto” (Koolhaas) in exhibition form, a review and preview of the practice and theory of Koolhaas/OMA/AMO.