The Mies van der Rohe Foundation presents its program of activities for 2021, which is a hybrid between the proposals in an on-site format at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion and the online proposals on the Fundació's different websites and social media.

The incorporation of new digital formats into the daily lives of a growing number of people makes it possible to involve larger and more geographically distant audiences in certain activities while still inviting them to the unique space of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion.

After a year in which the anticipated 100,000 in-person visitors were reduced to a quarter, Fundació Mies van der Rohe is nevertheless celebrating the great success of the open days implemented as a novelty in 2020, which accounted for almost 40% of the visits. The first Sunday of every month, admission is free of charge all day long. The characteristics of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion have taken on special relevance in these times in which being a large and open space has become an outstanding value to guarantee maximum health safety conditions and therefore allows us to continue to welcome you with complete peace of mind and guarantees.

In the same way, Fundació Mies van der Rohe is pleased to have maintained its offer of architectural cultural activity throughout 2020, including an Architecture Week fully organised and experienced 'from home' during the most intense lockdown in spring, and very special interventions in the Pavilion such as 'Re-enactment: Lilly Reich's work occupies the Barcelona Pavilion' interrupted by the lockdown but resumed as soon as it was possible, or 'It all begins with one word, choose your own' touching because of its fragility full of hope and optimism in the calm of the summer. All the 2020 activities have left their mark and are available on our websites and social media.

The programme that the Fundació proposes for 2021 brings back some of the proposals that were suspended the previous year, such as the intervention 'Beautiful Failures' with ELISAVA (Escola Universitaria de Disseny I Enginyeria de Barcelona), 'The Mies Project' with CaixaFòrum or the presentation of the publication La expresión del peso, and incorporates some new ones, such as the site-specific installation of a piece by Félix González-Torres simultaneously to his exhibition at MACBA.

The reopening of exhibitions at international venues linked to the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award, the fifth edition of the Barcelona Architecture Week and the debates and award ceremony of the Young Talent Architecture Award within the framework of the Venice Biennale will offer opportunities for debate and the dissemination of contemporary architectural culture.

Educational Programme, visits and activities in the Pavilion

For those who can, it is more worthwhile than ever to visit the Pavilion and enjoy it in an unusually relaxed atmosphere. In addition to the Open Days, the new Mies van der Rohe Pavilion Card offers unlimited visits, discounts in the bookshop and many other advantages. For those who cannot make it, a very special online guided tour has been created in collaboration with Guiding Architects, and on our websites and in shopmies -our online bookstore- documentaries and publications are available for consultation.

The 2021 programme will also include the Music Pavilion in collaboration with Barcelona Obertura and Fundación Goethe, the Reading Pavilion for Sant Jordi or the open-air film series, Pantalla Pavelló.

The Pavilion remains open for schools as well, welcoming students with educational activities rethought and adjusted to make them just as interesting and even safer, and we keep open, with restrictions, student access to the resources of the Mies van der Rohe Award archive and the collection and library of Fundació Mies van der Rohe.

On 8 March, a new call for applications for the Lilly Reich Scholarship will be launched, aimed at High School curricular research projects focused on the study, dissemination and visibility of contributions that have been unduly relegated or forgotten, or made by architecture professionals who have received discriminatory treatment, and which promote equal access to the practice of architecture.

In the field of academic collaboration with universities, the summer workshop suspended in 2020, and co-organised with Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona (UPC), FUNDARQ Mexico and SOFAR, which will be online this year, will be brought back.

Artistic Interventions in the Pavilion

The programme of interventions at the Pavilion, which offers new interpretations of the space to those who already know it, and increases its interest for those who have not yet been to it, brings us the proposals of Stella Rahola and Roger Paez as a result of the collaboration with Elisava, of Arina Dähnick in a simultaneous action in the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion and the neighbouring CaixaFòrum and the site-specific installation of a piece by Félix González-Torres in the framework of the monographic exhibition at MACBA.

The characteristics of the Pavilion, an open, outdoor space, make it an ideal please to carry out artistic interventions and cultural activities during the in the difficult times we are still facing.

This year we will also present the publication "La expresión del peso" derived from the intervention "I don't want to change the world. I only want to express it" by Luís Martínez- Santamaría to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the reconstruction of the Pavilion.

Dissemination and debates around contemporary architecture

The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award is not only one of the most prestigious architecture prizes, but also an excellent resource that allows to keep a close eye on the evolution of European architecture and the society in which it is embedded. The current edition has been extended until 2022, in order to guarantee the jury's visits to the works, which are essential to the conception of the EUMiesAward. Even so, in 2021 there will be plenty of opportunities for architectural dissemination and debate.

Highlighted in the calendar are the Young Talent Architecture Award awarding ceremony and debates, an integral part of the EUMiesAward, which has not been stopped by the pandemic and has focused on final-year projects from European architecture schools and, in this edition, also from Latin America and Asia.

The publication of the works nominated for the EUMiesAward, exhibitions such as 'Large-scale transformation, a new challenge for sustainability' at La Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris, presentations and online debates in the framework of the Future Architecture Platform, the 5th edition of the Barcelona Architecture Week - with the International Architecture Film Festival as a novelty - and the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism that the Pavilion will host will allow us in 2021 to particularly focus on the future of an architecture of care, centred on people and the environment. The Fundació accepts the European Commission's challenge to collectively imagine a new Bauhaus.

The Fundació's programme is open and allows for new activities to be incorporated during the course of the year, all of which are announced through its agenda, social media and its newsletter, to which everyone can subscribe on this link. 

January

Presentation to teachers I Educational Activities Programme
Online informative session on the four activities that comprise the Educational Action Plan of Fundació Mies van der Rohe with the presence of those people who carry out each of the activities.

February

Announcement of the nominated works I 1st phase I EUMiesAward 02/02/21
Official announcement of the works nominated to the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award finished between October 2018 and October 2020.

Santa Eulàlia I Open Day 12/02/21

We join in the celebration of this festivity with an open-door day at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion.

Creative Exchange - Future Architecture Platform I Research and debate 17- 19/02/21
Pan-European platform of architecture museums, festivals and producers, which seeks to convey ideas about the future of cities and architecture to the general public, with the participation of winners of the last edition of the YTAA presenting their proposals.

“Large-scale transformation, a new sustainability challenge” Exhibition and discussion I Cité de l’architecture et du Patrimoine I Paris
An itinerary through the two winning works of the last editions of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award and through all the collective housing works which are part of the EUMiesAward archive that reveals the complexity and opportunities surrounding large-scale dwellings.

March

Presentation of the publication “La expression del peso”
La expresión del peso” is the resulting publication of the artistic ‘I don’t want to change the world. I only want to express it’ by Luis Martínez Santa-María, by Luis Martínez Santa-María, which was the winning entry of the " Fear of columns" contest held in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the reconstruction of the Pavilion.

Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture I Research and debate
Open call in the modality specifically aimed at High School students that supports curricular research projects dedicated to reversing the invisibilities in architecture, both from a historical and contemporary point of view.

Politics of relationship I Félix González-Torres I Artistic Intervention I MACBA
A site-specific piece in the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion is presented simultaneously with a retrospective exhibition at MACBA on Félix González-Torres’ work that explores the connected histories of Spain and the American continent and their impact on memory, authority, freedom and national identity.

Barcelona Obertura I Music Pavilion
The Beethoven Marathon is resumed with a concert by pianist Noelia Rodiles, who will perform pieces by the German composer in this space that makes them special.

April

Reading Pavilion I Sant Jordi I Open Day 23/04/21
We invite you to enjoy an open day to celebrate and share culture. We propose to read in the Pavilion, enjoy its architecture, browse through the publications of the interventions that have been made there over time and get to know the great selection of architecture books and the novelties that we have in the Pavilion's bookstore.

Beautiful failures | Stella Rahola i Roger Paez I Artistic intervention I ELISAVA
The students of the master's degree in Ephemeral Architecture and Temporary Spaces at Elisava, led by professors Stella Rahola Matutes and Roger Paez, propose a deconstruction of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich's Pavilion based on its constituent materials. They propose a trilogy that begins with the choice of glass, exploring the capabilities of this material that revolutionised architecture and of which the German Pavilion is a paradigm.

May

Architecture week I Dissemination and debate 6-16/05/21
A wide range of activities, mostly online, related to the dissemination of architecture and the city will take place during Architecture Week 2021, now in its fifth edition. Fundació Mies van der Rohe together with the Barcelona City Council and COAC are the promoters of this initiative, which will take place from 6 to 16 May in Barcelona.

BARQ Festival | International Architecture Film Festival Barcelona 11-16/05/21
The BARQ Festival, which aims to vindicate architectural films as a specific genre and to delve into the relationship between architecture and the seventh art, will hold its first edition from 11 to 16 May within the framework of the Barcelona Architecture Week, both on-site and online, with an extensive programme that includes a selection of national and international documentary films and several parallel activities (talks, debates, workshops, conferences).

‘Mies Project’ | Arina Dähnick |Installation and exhibition I CaixaFòrum

Photographic project by German photographer Arina Dähnick. Intimate “architectural portraits” which prioritise the details of Mies van der Rohe’s works and the way in which different lighting and weather condition interact with the architect’s buildings.

Young Talent Architecture Award 2020 + YTAA Asia Edition | Exhibition I Venice Biennale 22/05/21

Opening of the Young Talent Architecture Award 2020 and YTAA Asia Edition exhibition as a collateral event of the Venice Architecture Biennale.

June

Architectures for the Barcelona waterfront I Online workshop I ETSAB+FUNDARQMX+SOFAR
Online workshop for architecture students, organised in the framework of the Visiting Universities Mexico programme in Barcelona together with ETSAB, Fundarq Mexico and SOFAR.

Young Talent Architecture Award 2020 + YTAA Asia Edition I Debates I Venice Biennale 15/06/21
Debates, presentation of the publication and Young Talent Architecture Award ceremony at the Venezia Architecture Biennale.

Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism I Research and Debate I MITMA 

The Mies van der Rohe Pavilion is, together with the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, co-hosting venue of the XV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism "España vacía, España llena. Estrategias de conciliación", curated by Anna Bach, Eugeni Bach and Óscar Miguel Ares.

Pantalla Pavelló “España vacía, España llena. Estrategias de conciliación”
The film series directly projected onto the travertine of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, which explores the relationship between built space, its limits and boundaries, and its inhabitants will follow the theme of the XV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (BEAU).

The Mies van der Rohe Foundation was created in 1983 by Barcelona’s City Council with the initial aim of carrying out the reconstruction of the German Pavilion. In addition to preserving and disseminating knowledge about the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, the Fundació promotes debate and awareness on contemporary architecture and urban Planning issues.

Top image courtesy of The Mies van der Rohe Foundation

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