INFORMATION of May 17, 2018

INFORMATION of May 17, 2018 Frankfurt/Main MÄRKLINMODERNISM From architecture to assembly kit and back again May 19 September 9, 2018 Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM), Schaumainkai 43, Frankfurt/Main EXHIBITION OPENING: Fri, May 18, 2018, 7 p.m. PRESS CONFERENCE: Thu, May 17, 2018, 11 a.m. GUIDED TOURS: On Saturdays and Sundays, 3 p.m. Faller Assembly Kit Truck Stop \ Photo: Hagen Stier OPEN: Tue, Thu Sun 11 a.m. 6 p.m. \ Wed 11 a.m. 8 p.m. \ Mon closed ABOUT THE EXHIBITION 2 BACKGROUND 3 THE MODELS AND THEIR TEMPLATES 5 PUBLICATION / IMPRINT 8 CONTACT 10 PRESS INFORMATION page 1

INFORMATION of May 17, 2018 Frankfurt/Main GERMANS ARE SURPRISINGLY MODERN WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR BASEMENT WORKSHOPS IN THE MODEL RAILWAY SETS OF THE MIRACLE ON THE RHINE ERA, ARCHITECTURE WAS MORE THAN MERELY A BACKDROP. HERE THE FLYING ROOF, GLASS DOME AND GRID-LIKE FACADE WERE PART AND PARCEL OF THE URBAN LANDSCAPE. THE EXHIBITION MÄRKLIN MODERNISM WILL BE THE FIRST TO SHOW JUST HOW ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT ARCHITECTURE THE SUPPOSEDLY PHILISTINE MODEL RAILWAY BUILDERS REALLY WERE. Germans are surprisingly modern when it comes to their basement workshops in the model railway sets of the Miracle on the Rhine era, architecture was more than merely a backdrop. Here the flying roof, glass dome and grid-like facade were part and parcel of the urban landscape. The exhibition will be the first to show just how enthusiastic about architecture the supposedly philistine model railway builders really were. Everyone could afford a Villa in the Ticino back then for 4.75 Deutschmarks, you could get a 1:87 scale model. This was modeled on an actual residential house on the St Gotthard Pass, which doubly inspired the Faller brothers in 1961. They had a similar villa built at the company headquarters in Gütenbach and in parallel developed an injection-molded kit of the building. Curious stories also surround the glass tower restaurant, an embattled town church and a postmodern high-rise. The DAM and moderneregional are presenting selected original postwar Modernist model construction kits. They are juxtaposed to their architectural role models in the form of large-format photographs by Hagen Stier. Two model railway sets bring movement to modern cityscapes and a film by Otto Schweitzer and C. Julius Reinsberg, specially produced for the exhibition, will also be on view. As of July 11, 2018 supplemented by the exhibition Die Villa im Tessin. märklinmoderne im Ländle in the architekturgalerie am weißenhof Stuttgart. In the basements of the Economic Miracle era it was not just between half-timbered houses that the steam trains made their leisurely rounds of the tracks; architectural modernism was also always evident on the model railway plate. Flying roofs, grid-like façades and glass domes often appeared in the catalogs of miniature building manufacturers such as Faller, Vollmer and kibri earlier than romanticizing old buildings. Daniel Bartetzko and Karin Berkemann, moderneregional, exhibition curators Thanks to the research by moderneregional it also now transpires that a hitherto somewhat ridiculed, primarily male section of the population that lived out their fantasies of control at the console of a model railway in the hobby room, that this thoroughly suspect subspecies by vulgar psychological standards, nurtured a perfectly avant-garde relationship to the architecture of its time. Oliver Elser, curator Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) PRESS INFORMATION page 2

Did post-war architecture have any bearing on model railway sets construction kits for buildings? Indeed it did! And the exhibition märklinmodernism along with the catalog impressively trace this path into the everyday world and at the same time the dreamworld of the model railway. As such, it renders an important contribution to the history of the reception of post-1945 architecture. Philip Kurz, Wüstenrot Stiftung It is possibly precisely that which characterizes the postwar era as a special form of Modernism the way that new architecture and familiar landscape, technology and longing, half-timbered house and Villa in Ticino belong together in it. Christian Holl, architekturgalerie am weißenhof Stuttgart BACKGROUND Case history In 1935, the firm Trix presented the 00 railway on a scale of 1:90. Soon after, almost all manufacturers adopted this scale, including market leader Märklin. In 1950, it was changed from double zero (00) to half zero (H0/1:87). When it was launched the so-called table railway remained a privilege of the wealthy. Hermann Göring hoarded several model railways along with looted art at his country estate Carinhall. Yet this toy is free of ideology: It is its creator alone who decides what happens on the model plate. One may hear the symphony of the big city between numerous express rail tracks or a sightseeing train puffing its way through an idyllic mountain village. While in the 1950s to the 1970s work was progressing full steam ahead on the Economic Miracle and political and social development was increasingly accelerating, the microcosm of the model railway promised a calm place to which one could withdraw. And at the same time offered sufficient novelty each year to delight fans of progress too. Were these supposed toys even intended for children? The inventors certainly envisaged the children of the family constantly competing with fathers and grandfathers for control of the transformer. Indeed, since the early 1960s at the latest playing with miniature railways was marketed as a hobby for the entire family with the manufacturers thus ensuring sales opportunities across the generations. Construction kits for buildings Whereas the makers of model railways had a limited supply of role models on which they could draw, manufacturers of model buildings were able to rely on the immeasurable wealth of architecture. Naturally, they wanted to earn money. Yet a glance at the details reveals that alongside economic considerations passion, meticulous research, and perhaps even unfulfilled dreams (to be an architect) all likewise played a role. The modern construction kits by market leader Faller were characterized by colorful railings, slanted wall edges and the recurrence of central-fold flying roofs. Anyone visiting the home of Faller, Gütenbach, will find these themes there, in the villas of the company founders, in the Faller factory and at Hanhart, a watchmaker also located in Gütenbach. The Faller in-house architect Leopold Messmer designed these buildings on a scale of 1:1; the modelers created varying replicas as railway stations, signal boxes or houses. Ideas were more straight-lined at the competing firm kibri from Böblingen: There the modern age was to be simple and cubic. The strict forms demanded respect, at times scaled down by a factor of 87. kibri produced various miniaturized models, including of the railway station ensemble Neu-Ulm and Kehl railway station. From the early 1960s, Vollmer in Stuttgart offered a selection of yellow-brick railway system buildings, plus various modern, unadorned single-family homes PRESS INFORMATION page 3

whose templates were no doubt found in the wealthy suburbs of the city. It wasn t until the 1970s that Vollmer found success as a developer of Old Town buildings. The comparison to the architectural model Ostensibly, model railway buildings are related to architectural models, but there is one crucial difference: On a model railway plate, scaled-down large buildings would exceed the given dimensions. As a rule, miniatures are stylized; what is required is the art of omission and of alterations in scale. And of cheating. Indeed, even if model buildings look realistic, they are not subject to building regulations, userfriendliness and the laws of static forces. We must wonder whether Faller s tower café would still stand with the maximum load on the flying roof of the gas station underneath it. The Faller high-rise can only be accessed through the entrance of one store, and the East German counterparts by VERO even change the nominal size of the model railway from the ground floor to the upper stories from 1:87 to 1:160. It is a harmonious overall impression that counts, without hobbyists feeling taken for a ride by overly crude details. From cardboard to injection-molded plastic Miniature buildings, before the Wall came down in West Germany at least, were injection molded in plastic as of the 1950s. An immensely heavy collection of steel molds is the treasure chamber of any model maker. Liquid plastic is injected into the chilled mold at high pressure. When they have hardened, the finished elements fall out of the opened mold. To quote the children s TV presenter Peter Lustig: Sounds easy, but it isn t. It is initially the toolmaker s job to construct the mold in such a way that the components do not warp after the injection process. Then the modeler himself must keep an eye on the cooling of the entire machine, the correct flow pressure and the water temperature. Seconds count when the component is ejected and falls into a tempered box or another water bath. Injection-molding technology enables any manner of small system buildings not only modern ones. Whether halftimbered, historicist, Bauhaus or avant-garde in plastic they are all the same. A hobby with a future The shrinking model railway scene is not as inactive as one might think. Any intellectual with a fair grounding in pop culture who smiles on hearing that German CSU politician Horst Seehofer is building a model railway in his basement hobby room should also know that Rod Steward and Neil Young are parttime train drivers. The musicians can hardly be said to be exceedingly middle class, neither can that be said of the former disco owners Frederik and Gerrit Braun, who run Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg. And the companies? Märklin has long since become synonymous with model railways. Among the model building producers Faller is still the market leader. Today kibri and Vollmer belong to the company Viessmann, founded in 1988 a late entrant to this segment. The work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility this still takes place on the model railway plate. Here however the work does not lose its aura by means of reproduction, as Walter Benjamin wrote in his 1936 essay. It is precisely through reproduction that models take on an aura, and through the way in which skilled or moderately talented amateur hands join the pieces together. Today the south-german model maker Gerald Fuchs takes this to the extreme, combining dozens of old townhouse construction kits to make a monumental large structure. Yet no matter who builds what and how, good architecture can t be damaged by a glue stain. PRESS INFORMATION page 4

THE MODELS AND THEIR TEMPLATES Villa in Ticino Model construction kit Villa in Ticino, produced from 1961, Gebr. Faller GmbH/Gütenbach im Schwarzwald, 20 x 12 x 8.5 cm The architectural template is the futuristic Villa Giovanni Guscetti in Ambrì in Ticino, built in 1958 according to plans by Aldo and Alberto Guscetti. The architect Leopold Messmer designed a similar dwelling in 1961 for Hermann Faller in Gütenbach im Schwarzwald parallel to the development of the model construction kit Villa in Ticino. When Hermann (Faller) drove through Ticino he always drove past this building. And he would say: I want to have a house like that one day! It was the Villa in Ticino, my favorite project. Something that doesn t come along every day. (Leopold Messmer, long-serving inhouse architect at Faller) Truck Stop Model construction kit Truck Stop with fuel pumps and restaurant, produced from 1961 by Gebr. Faller GmbH/Gütenbach im Schwarzwald, 12 x 9 x 9 cm, also available with a motor and as a Snack Bar The model Truck Stop was also available with a special extra feature: The crowning advertising panel could be rotated by means of an electric motor. Faller had been inspired by the Breisgau car dealership open at the time in Freiburg, with its glazed upper story housing a café/restaurant. Today this tower café, completed in 1951 according to plans by architect Wilhelm Schelkes, is used as a restaurant. High-rise Model construction kit High-rise, from 1958, Gebr. Faller GmbH/Gütenbach im Schwarzwald, 15 x 10 x 28.7 cm Parallel to the model construction kit High-rise, in 1959 the large Faller high-rise was built, appearing to burst the limits of the small town of Gütenbach in the Black Forest. The building, planned by architect PRESS INFORMATION page 5

Leopold Messmer, houses office and production rooms of the firm Faller to this day. A second high-rise was built in 1963. Modern Church Model construction kit Modern Church, produced from 1965 by Gebr. Faller GmbH/Gütenbach im Schwarzwald, 14 x 14 x 17.7 cm The Faller model construction kit Modern Church is based on the Roman Catholic Church of St. Catherine consecrated in 1965. It was built in Gütenbach im Schwarzwald according to plans by the archiepiscopal building authority (Lothar Schmitt). Where the model enables a free view of the interior, the large church has a concrete glass wall by artist Rainer Dorwarth. Neustadt Railway Station Model construction kit Neustadt Railway Station, produced from 1966 by Gebr. Faller GmbH/Gütenbach im Schwarzwald, 52.9 x 15.8 x 9.8 cm Faller oriented the design of the Neustadt Railway Station model construction kit on the station building in Goch in the Lower Rhine region, which was designed by Toni Hermanns in 1957. In Goch the side wing serves as the station restaurant to this day. Badenweiler Post Office Model construction kit Badenweiler Post Office, produced from 1970 by kibri (Kindler & Briel GmbH), Böblingen, 24 x 20 x 9 cm The building on which the kibri model construction kit Badenweiler Post Office is based is actually located in the small spa town of Badenweiler. Freiburg s chief post office building officer Hans Merkenthaler was responsible for the structure s clear form in 1962/63. PRESS INFORMATION page 6

Residential Ensemble Model construction kits Residential Ensemble / High-rise, produced from 1971 by VEB Kombinat Holzspielwaren VERO (Vereinigte Olbernhauer Spielwarenbetriebe), Olbernhau im Erzgebirge, 15 x 15 x 13.5 cm / 10.5 x 9.5 x 12.5 cm For its model construction kits Residential Ensemble and High-rise, the East-German toy manufacturer VERO took general orientation from the standardized form of modern East-German residential construction around 1970. In the exhibition, this will be visualized in the form of photographs of PH16 high-rises in Erfurt. Nurda Vacation Home Model construction kit Nurda Vacation Home, produced from 1973 by Gebr. Faller GmbH/Gütenbach im Schwarzwald, 13 x 10 x 6.5 cm, also available as Painter s Studio with skylight and set of model figures Painter with nude models The Faller model construction kit Nurda Vacation Home is based on the eponymous prefabricated house system developed around 1967 by the architect duo Ervenich/Immich (Wolfsburg/Berlin). For several years as of 1979 Faller sold the kit in a new, somewhat more permissive version, namely as a painter s studio with a large skylight and including a set of Preiser figures encompassing the artist and nude models. Also on display at the DAM: further selected model construction kits by the manufacturers Faller, kibri, Pola and VERO, an original mold for injection-molded plastic parts (on loan from Gebr Faller GmbH), mega models by Gerald Fuchs, historical catalogs, different types of cardboard for model-making and architectural plans plus two model railway sets with a modern urban landscape. The presentation includes the film produced to accompany the exhibition (Otto Schweitzer/C. Julius Reinsberg). PRESS INFORMATION page 7

PUBLICATION märklinmodernism From architecture to assembly kit and back again Eds.: Karin Berkemann, Daniel Bartetzko Jovis Publisher, Berlin 136 pages ISBN 978-3868595185 Available at the museum shop and book stores for 28 EUR. With photos by: Hagen Stier und Andreas Beyer With contributions by: Oliver Elser, Dina Dorothea Falbe, Teresa Fankhänel, Christian Holl, Ralf Liptau, Matthias Ludwig, Verena Pfeiffer-Kloss, C. Julius Reinsberg und Jörg Schilling IMPRINT MÄRKLINMODERNISM From architecture to assembly kit and back again May 19 September 9, 2018 An exhibition by Deutsches Architekturmuseums (DAM) in behalf of the Department of Culture and Science / Culture Board, City of Frankfurt am Main Director Peter Cachola Schmal Vice Director Andrea Jürges Curator DAM Oliver Elser Curators of the exhibition Daniel Bartetzko, Karin Berkemann Photography of the Architecture and the Models Hagen Stier Film Otto C. Schweitzer, C. Julius Reinsberg Exhibition Design Mario Lorenz, Deserve Wiesbaden Installation Team Marina Barry, Paolo Brunino, Ulrich Diekmann, Enrico Hirsekorn, Jannik Hoffmann, Caroline Krause, Ömer Simsek, Beate Voigt, Gerhard Winkler under the direction of Christian Walter Registrar Wolfgang Welker Guided Tours Yorck Förster Education Bettina Gebhardt, Jorma Foth, Julia Reich, Frank Reinecke, Sonja Sikora, Hana Spijkers, Arne Winkelmann, Michèle Zeuner, Anne Etheber, Karla Pohl unter der Leitung von Christina Budde DAM Corporate Design Gardeners Public Relations Brita Köhler, Rebekka Rass Administration Inka Plechaty, Jacqueline Brauer Technician Achim Müller-Rahn Production Inditec Display & Messegestaltung, Bad Camberg PRESS INFORMATION page 8

An exhibition by Editors moderneregional: Daniel Bartetzko, Karin Berkemann, C. Julius Reinsberg Sponsored by PRESS INFORMATION page 9

Press images for announcements and reports during the exhibition period at www.dam-online.de June 9 October 14, 2018 (New Date!) LIVING THE REGION Rhine\Main DEUTSCHES ARCHITEKTURMUSEUM Press & Public Relations Schaumainkai 43, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany www.dam-online.de Brita Köhler, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) T +49 (0)69 212 36318 \ F +49 (0)69 212 36386 \ brita.koehler@stadt-frankfurt.de Rebekka Rass, M.A. T +49 (0)69 212 31326 \ F +49 (0)69 212 36386 \ rebekka.rass@stadt-frankfurt.de PRESS INFORMATION page 10