Matera Moderna book presentation with GRAFT founder Lars Krueckeberg

On Thursday, December 15, the book launch of Matera Moderna will take place at Architektur Galerie Berlin in the presence of the author Ulrich Brinkmann, the editor-in-chief of Bauwelt Boris Schade-Bünsow and GRAFT founder Lars Krueckeberg.

About the book: Matera in southern Italy has become a much-visited tourist destination due to its cave settlements. After World War II, however, the city was considered the "shame of Italy" because of the undignified living conditions in these sassi at the time, far removed from the innovations that had long since brought other parts of the country into the modern age. The Turin writer Carlo Levi immortalized the reality of that time in his novel "Christ came only as far as Eboli" (1946). From the fifties to the eighties, Matera and its surroundings underwent a "modernization from above" organized and financed by the state. It left traces that still characterize the province today. Contemporary postcards document the arrival of modernity. The images of colonist villages and satellite settlements, of dams and expressways raise questions that also affect our present day: How sustainable are state modernization programs? To what extent do they connect with historical development trajectories? And can they be understood as the further development of a cultural landscape?

Ulrich Brinkmann, born in Paderborn in 1970, lives in Berlin. He studied architecture at the University (now TU) of Dortmund, graduating with a degree in engineering, and has been editor of Bauwelt since 2000. 2015 Villa Serpentara Scholarship of the Berlin Academy of Arts in Olevano Romano, 2022 Casa Baldi Scholarship of the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo in Olevano Romano. Since 2010, numerous trips to the province of Matera.

Introduction: Ulrich Müller (Architektur Galerie Berlin), Boris Schade-Bünsow (Bauwelt)
Presentation: Ulrich Brinkmann
Dialogue: Lars Krückeberg (GRAFT), Ulrich Brinkmann

Ulrich Brinkmann - Matera moderna. Postcards from the time of the Italian economic miracle
DOM Publishers, Paperback, 336 pages, 21,1 x 22,6 cm

When? Thursday, December 15, 2022, 7 p.m.
Where? Architektur Galerie Berlin, 96, Karl-Marx-Allee, 10243 Berlin
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