Institution Building

Institution Building displays and questions the diverse elements of a museum—from the most visible parts (the exhibition) to the often unseen or hidden components (archive, administration, maintenance). The exhibition will grow week by week, with an institutional element added sequentially, presenting the institution as a cadavre exquis—an ever changing organism, constantly questioning and legitimizing its raison d’être.

Each chapter reimagines a component of an architecture museum:

Hospitality
August 26

Format
September 2

Collection
September 9

Audience
September 16

Agency
September 23

Pedagogy
September 30

Emancipation
October 7

Environment
October 14

Preservation
October 21

Idiom
October 28

As the first project by the newly appointed artistic director Nikolaus Hirsch, the exhibition marks the beginning of a transition phase during which CIVA will move to a new location at Kanal, with an inauguration in 2024. Institution Building is an institutional self-reflection, a questioning of the role of cultural institutions as such—and of CIVA in particular.

The exhibition and collateral events will include more than 150 architects, artists, historians, writers, and activists.

Iñaki Ábalos / Giovanna Borasi — Canadian Centre for Architecture / Juan José Castellón González / Stefano Graziani / Juan Herreros / OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, Accatone (Ismaël Bennani, Sophie Dars, Orfée Grandhomme, Carlo Menon), David Adjaye, AgwA / KU Leuven, Lucia Allais, Altitude 35 (Benoît Barnaud, Clara Loukkal) / Marie Cazaban-Mazerolles / Julien Claparède-Petitpierre / Antoine Espinasseau / PEAKS (Charles Aubertin, Camille Dupont, Samuel Jaubert de Beaujeu, Éva Maloisel) / UR (Chloé Valadié, Gaétan Brunet) / ZEFCO (François Peyron, Florian Dupont), Gabriela Anco / Vadim Zakharov, David Apheicex / Constructo / Camille Frechou / In out Concept / MBL architectes (Benjamin Lafore, Sébastien Martinez Barat), Vulcano, Apparatus 22 (Maria Farcas, Dragos Olea, Erika Olea, Ioana Nemes), architecten jan de vylder inge vinck, Cyrus Ardalan / Ophélie Dozat / Lucien Dumas, Atelier Kanal (noArchitecten, Sergison Bates architects, EM2N), Kader Attia, Shumon Basar / Douglas Coupland / Hans Ulrich Obrist, Thomas Bayrle, BC architects (Laurens Bekemans, Nicolas Coeckelberghs, Ken De Cooman, Wes Degreef), Olivier Bertrand / Piero Bisello / Benjamin De Backer / Diego Thielemans / Sophie Varin, Felix Beytou / Jacques Hondelatte / Juan Perez Amaya, Daniel Birnbaum, Simon Boudvin, BMA Bouwmeester Maître Architecte (Kristiaan Borret, Julie Collet, Géraldine Lacasse, Tine Vandepaer), Bernard Boccara, Gideon Boie / Lieven De Cauter / Cinéma Jolia (Jolien De Nijs, Giulia Lazzara), Valerio Borgonuovo / Silvia Franceschini / Remo Buti, Bovenbouw / Caruso St John, Renaat Braem, Arno Brandlhuber / b+, Buchner Bründler Architekten, Laurent Busine / Mundaneum — Maurice-Karel Heymans, Léonard Homez, Paul Otlet / Wouter Van Acker, Caryatide (Simon Campedel, Thibault Lambert, Claudia Mion, Antoine Stevenot) / Marcel-Louis Baugniet / Victor Bourgeois / Louis-Herman De Koninck / Marcel Depelsenaire / Henri Derée / Albert-Charles Duesberg / Maurice Gaspard / Gustave Herbosch / Oscar Jespers / Elisabeth Prins / Émile Sergysels / Auguste Vanden Nieuwenborg, Bambi Ceuppens, Boris Charmatz, Aric Chen, Asli Cicek, CLARA / Wim Cuyvers, Beatriz Colomina, Maurice Culot / Philippe Lefèbvre, Luc Deleu — T.O.P. office, Simon Denny / Linda Kantchev, Antoine Devaux, Vincent Detroy / V+ (Jörn Aram Bihain & Thierry Decuypere), DOGMA (Pier Vittorio Aureli, Martino Tattara), Filip Dujardin, Keller Easterling, Cornelia Escher / Lars Fischer / OM Ungers, François Farges / Roger Caillois, Fischli/Weiss, Jean Garcin - Karbon’ architecture et urbanisme / Claire Valette – IOTA, Jacques Gillet, Pieterjan Ginckels / Sleepers Dreamers, Jean Glibert, Guy Gypens, Samia Henni, Sandi Hilal / Alessandro Petti, Niall Hobhouse, Tom Holert, Carsten Höller, Victor Horta, Stanislas Jasinski, John Knight, Rem Koolhaas / Ingo Niermann, Rosalind Krauss, Lucien & Simone Kroll, Laura Kurgan / Dare Brawley / Jia Zhang / Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Zak Kyes / Radim Pesko, LABEL (Jean-Didier Bergilez, Michel Lefèvre, Thibaut Rome) / MUOTO (Gilles Delalex, Yves Moreau), Léopold Lambert, Alfred Ledent, Pierre Leguillon — La Promesse de l’Écran, Clara Leverd / Veronique Patteeuw / Madelon Vriesendorp, Jacques Ligot (with Eimi Leggett, Timothy Nouzak, Mary Szydlowska, Mooni Van Tichel), Lesley Lokko / African Futures Institute, Jill Magid, MAIO, Reinhold Martin, Mitch McEwen, NEWROPE (Panayotis Antoniadis, Seppe De Blust, Lukas Fink, Falma Fshazi, Evelyne Gordon, Michiel van lersel, Freek Persyn, Charlotte Schaeben, Ina Valkanova), Atelier Ergon / Gorbon Ceramics / New South (Meriem Chabani, Etienne Chobaux, John Edom) Amelyn Ng, Jorge Otero-Pailos, Frei Otto / IL, Jean Painlevé, Hila Peleg, Raphael Pirenne / WIP (Justine Babut, Adèle Boterf, Victoria Cattani, Justine Debaene, Jade Rouanet), Marie-Françoise Plissart, PLMD (PleaseLetMeDesign / Damien Aresta, Pierre Smeets), Rimini Protokoll (Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi, Daniel Wetzel), Dennis Pohl / Bouwcentrum-Cegos, Tobias Rehberger, Selma Robert / Akarova, Martha Rosler, Coline Rosoux, Christopher Roth, Raphael Julien Saint Amand, Hilary Sample, Tamaya Sapey-Triomphe, Tomás Saraceno, Maria Fernanda Serna, Bas Smets / Paul Duvigneaud, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Studio Ossidiana (Giovanni Bellotti, Alessandra Covini), Superflex, Peter Swinnen — CRIT, Harald Szeemann, Milica Tomic, Traumnovelle, Urban, Sumaya Valley, Anton Vidokle, Oriol Vilanova, Georg Vrachliotis, Apolline Vrancken / Simone Guillissen-Hoa, Wim Waelput, Eyal Weizman — Forensic Architecture, Mark Wigley, XDGA I Xaveer De Geyter Architects, Mawena Yehouessi and many more.

Curated by
Nikolaus Hirsch, Matylda Krzykowski, Cédric Libert

Press inquiries:
Dieter Vanthournout, d.vanthournout [​at​] civa.brussels / T +32 (0) 497 90 12 51