The Veddel Embassy: Representing Germany

“The Veddel Embassy: Representing Germany”, within the context of Performing Architecture, a programme of Goethe-Institut.

“Performing Architecture” is the accompanying programme of the Goethe Institut at the 15th International Architecture Biennale in Venice. This year the focal point of “Performing Architecture” is a project by theatre-makers Björn Bicker, Malte Jelden and Michael Graessner, who have been working for many years at the interfaces of art, politics and social practice.

For “The Veddel Embassy: Representing Germany” they will be bringing the migratory, multicultural reality of the Hamburg district of Veddel to Venice: some 60 inhabitants of Veddel will come to Venice for a week and open “The Veddel Embassy” in the Chiesa della Misericordia.

The Embassy is place of encounter with the local population as well as with the Biennale’s international guests. Thanks to several projects – such as the Language Café Nova, the Intercommunal Orchestra or a newly established Travel Agency that organizes excursions to the multicultural Venice – the issues usually addressed at the Biennale on theoretical and conceptual level, are this way experienced under the guidance of the residents of Veddel. The message is as clear as complicated: Germany is an immigration country and it is necessary to organise the needs of the various minorities (religious, ethnic, sexual etc.) fairly and peacefully. “The Veddel Embassy” invites everyone to become part of this process.

Veddel, the small island on the river Elbe, is situated only two subway stops away from Hamburg Central Station. Almost 5,000 people live there. In the past, German emigrants set off from here for overseas, now it is an arrival district: all migration movements of the last 70 years have passed here through, immigrants from over sixty different countries have been living here for generations in peaceful co-existence. Many ethnic and religious European minorities meet each other in this district forming a new society. Yet social injustice of globalisation is also evident in Veddel. Precarious living and working conditions make life difficult for the people here. In Veddel the future of Germany and of Europe is negotiated every day.
Veddel conveys an idea of what the future holds for Germany as immigration country. The residents present their projects, their ideas, their ideals, their home in Venice and seek an exchange with both the international guests of the Biennale as the multicultural citizens of Venice.

Partners: German Pavilion “Making Heimat. Germany Arrival Country”, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg.

Opening times:
18- 22 October 2016
Tuesday – Friday: 12 – 3 pm and 6 -10 pm
Saturday: 12:00 pm-12.00 am

Venue:
Chiesa della Misericordia
Campo de l’Abazia, 3550, 30121 Venice