Shrinking Cities at the 10th International
Architecture Biennale in Venice
The Architecture Biennale /// “Meta-cities - Cities: Architecture andSociety” is the theme of this year’s 10th International Architecture
Biennale in Venice. Primarily presented will be the overflowing growthof megalopolises of the South and East, from Mexico City to Shanghai.
Richard Burdett, Professor at the London School of Economics andCurator of this year’s Architecture Biennale, has invited the project
Shrinking Cities – as the sole German team along with twelve otherrenowned international research groups, including ETH Zürich StudioBasel, Berlage Institute Rotterdam, AMO/OMA-Rem Koolhaas, SENSEable
City Laboratory – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
Multipilicity / Stefano Boeri, and the university IUAV di Venezia - topresent its results in the international section of the Biennale.
Contribution /// The Shrinking Cities project’s contribution to theexhibition is a stark contrast to the superordinated theme of theBiennale. In the Shrinking Cities room, a 45-meter-long and 4-meterhigh panorama photo by the photographer Christoph Petras gives theviewer the impression that he is in one of the many shrinking city
districts of eastern Germany. A huge world map on the floor of the roomshows more than 350 big cities that have markedly shrunk, at least
temporarily, in the last 50 years. A collage of short film scenes shows
how this often-repressed theme has been taken up in the cultural
history of cinema. An exhibition newspaper in an edition of 20,000
provides background information and sketches possibilities for action.
Excursion through Venice /// On Friday, September 8, from 10 a.m. to 1
p.m., in the framework of the opening program, the Shrinking Cities
project will also conduct excursions to the parts of Venice that areshrinking. For Venice, too, despite and in part because of its
increasing tourism success, is affected by the phenomenon of shrinkage;it has lost 60 percent of its inhabitants in the last 50 years.
The tour will follow an unusual route across the lagoon, touching someexemplary and unexpected points of Venice’s transformation: new urban
interventions that suit tourists' demand, public services like schools
and cinemas closed down as inhabitants have left, abandoned islands,and Porto Marghera, symbol of industrial decay.
The city excursion is an event organized by Shrinking Cities, withstatements contributed by Thomas Krämer-Badoni, Philipp Oswalt, Lorenzo
Romito (Stalker), and others. Organized by Giovanni Piovene.
Meeting point: Redentore Church, Giudecca. Vaporetto stop: Redentore.
As the number of participants is limited, reservation in advance isnecessary. Please call or sms: +39 - 349 72 42 280.
Philipp Oswalt (curator, mob: +49-173-8604845) and Nicole Minten-Jung(coordination, mob: +49-163-3781175) are available on request for talks
and information on site in Venice from September 5 to 8.

Exhibition Contributions in the Shrinking Cities Room ///NO TITLE, 2006
Wallpaper and sound installation, by stadtimbild/Christoph Petras, withsound by Olaf Augele and written quotes from Drei Städte (ThreeCities), a project by Sybil Kohl, Philipp Oswalt, Albrecht Schäfer.
A ca. 45-meter-long, 4-meter-high 360° photo and sound installation
gives the visitor the impression of being in a partly abandoned prefabhousing estate in Wolfen-Nord (Germany). A second glance at the photopanorama reveals quotations from interviews with inhabitants, who speak
about their personal experience in the partially abandoned settlements
they live in or have lived in.
WEGE (PATHS), 2004
Video, 6 min, by Antje Ehmann
How are urban shrinkage and decline represented in film images, andwhat function do they have there? What recurring topics are shaped infilm and how do they influence our perception? In the context of a film
research project, the author of this film collected from various genres
sequences on 7 keywords associated with various aspects of shrinking
cities. At the Biennial, one topic out of the 7 is shown.
WORLD MAP OF SHRINKING CITIES, 2006
by Project Office Philipp Oswalt (Researcher: Tim Rieniets)
A mapping of the over 350 cities in the world with a population of morethan 100,000 that have lost (at least temporarily) more than 10% of
their population between 1950 and 2000.
EXHIBITION NEWSPAPER, 2006
by Project Office Philipp Oswalt
A free newspaper introduces the theme of urban shrinkage as a global
phenomenon, presents four examples of studied international sites, andintroduces models for action.
MOVING DATA, 2003/04
Computer animation, 3 min, by Project Office Philipp Oswalt (Projectmanagement: Anke Hagemann, Graphics: 1kilo)
The city is not permanent and stabile, but a dynamic system of growth,shrinkage, and constant shifting. Moving Data consists of animations
that present spatial data in their temporal development, for example
the development of population density or the change of the built fabricover the last 50 years.
URBAN SCAN, 2003/04
Video, 13 min, by Albrecht Schäfer
To convey a direct impression of the various shrinking urban spaces,characteristic urban situations are filmed from a slowly moving car inDetroit (USA), Ivanovo (RUS), Halle/Leipzig (D), and Manchester/Liverpool (UK), the four cases that the project Shrinking Cities has
extensively studied over the last 4 years.
The “Shrinking Cities” exhibition contribution to the 10th
International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale wasproduced by the Project Office Philipp Oswalt.
Curator: Philipp Oswalt; research assistants: Elke Beyer, Anke
Hagemann, Anita Kaspar, Tim Rieniets, and Füsun Türetken, with theassistance of Gabi Eisenreich and Giovanni Piovene; coordination: AnitaKaspar and Nicole Minten-Jung; management: Florian Bolenius, Peter
Boragno, and Nicole Minten-Jung; graphic design: Tanja Wesse;
exhibition installation: atelier 35/Jacob von Dohnanyi.
3Shrinking City Venice – Facts and Figures ///Municipality of Venice
Population 1970: 367,500
Population 2006: 270,000
Population loss: –26.5%
Historical center
Population 1950: 174,800
Population 2006: 62,300
Population loss: –64.4%
Venice, in 1700 the third-largest city on the Italian peninsula, wasfor centuries a political and economic center of internationalsignificance. Despite losing its independence to Austria and being
incorporated into the independent Kingdom of Italy in 1866, around 1900
it was still the largest manufacturing center in northeastern Italy.
Because the historical city districts were structurally unsuitable formodern industry, additional areas were developed around Mestre on themainland. From 1918 on, Porto Marghera developed as an industrial port
surrounded by commercial and residential properties. Venice nonethelessretained its administrative role.
Until the Second World War, the city in the lagoon became ever more
densely populated in spite of the fact that its old building fabric wascrumbling and its infrastructure became increasingly unable to copewith congestion. From 1951 on, tens of thousands of inhabitants andestablished businesses left the old city, because the maintenance ofproperty had become too expensive there. Real estate speculation has
been squeezing out further population groups since the 1970s. The ratio
of inhabitants in Venice to those on the mainland is reversing.
Venice is aging at a rapid rate and becoming increasinglyinternational: today only around half of the historical center’s 62,300
inhabitants are Venetians. In the daytime, commuters and visitors
double the city’s population. Venice is a staged city, a singular show
put on for the twelve million tourists who teem through its alleyways
every year. Yet the lagoon’s fragile ecological system has beenradically damaged by industrial and infrastructural developments thathave led to frequent flooding, salinization, and pollution, which also
cause damage to historical buildings.
...............
Press and Publicity
Dr. Astrid Herbold
Schrumpfende Staedte - Shrinking Cities
Eisenacher Straße 74
D-10823 Berlin
Tel: +49 (30) 81 82 19-06
press@shrinkingcities.com
http://www.shrinkingcities.com
Shrinking Cities is an initiative project of the Kulturstiftung desBundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) in cooperation with theProject Office Philipp Oswalt, the Gallery for Contemporary Art
Leipzig, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and the magazine archplus.
Since 2002, with more than 100 participating artists, architects, cityplanners, journalists, scientists, and local initiatives from many
countries, the project has investigated processes of shrinking andstrategies for intervention for the affected regions. The results ofthe work have been communicated in exhibitions in Berlin (2004), Halle,and Leipzig (2005/2006) and in several publications with the publishing
Verlag Hatje Cantz and arch plus Verlag. A dozen follow-up exhibitions,
including in the United States, Britain, Russia, Japan, and Germany,
will be held from 2006 to 2008.
For more information:
http://www.labiennale.org or
http://www.labiennale.org/en/news/architecture/en/62177.html