The Cold War has left us believing that there are incompatible contrasts. Consequently, in the European architectural history of the 20th century avant-garde and traditionalist trends are often still considered to be incompatible extremes. This dualism peaked in the 1950s when the West was identified with “international modernist architecture” and the East with building in “national traditions” (Socialist Realism).
Berlin has two manifestos of this political and aesthetic confrontation: the Stalinallee (now Karl-Marx-Allee) built between 1951 and 1958, and the International Building Exhibition (Interbau) of 1957. During the second phase of construction of the Karl-Marx-Allee (1959-1964) East Berlin developed its own “socialist modern architecture”. Today, architectural and urbanistic testimonies to post-war modernity are once again appreciated in the East and West.
The application of the Federal State of Berlin (2013) to nominate the Karl-Marx-Allee together with the Interbau for the German World Heritage tentative list of UNESCO has broken up this long-established contrast. The conference Rethinking Modernity is meant to look beyond the Berlin horizon through historic analyses and typological comparisons in an international context. Based on the understanding that modernity remains “incomplete” to this day, tradition and progress condition each other and are interrelated. They remain distinguishable, but also inseparably connected.
For further details (programme, registration) see http://www.icomos.de/icomos/pdf/programmflyer.pdf
