Achitectural gifts are everywhere. This exhibition features gifted buildings—from spectacular to mundane, from extravagant to genuinely useful—that show how the unequal relationship between the giver and the receiver results in both generosity and violence exerted by and through architecture. What are the benefits of an architectural gift and how may it cause harm? Case studies on four continents are presented to explore the generosity and violence of the gift-giving dynamic, based on work with local researchers and communities. These include stories of humanitarian gifts for Skopje, North Macedonia; the gift of land in Kumasi, Ghana; diplomatic gifts for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and philanthropic gifts in East Palo Alto, California, USA. The exhibition results from a collaboration between Technical University Munich & Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan.
Duration: February 29 – September 8, 2024
Exhibition Identity and Design: WVH
Curators: Damjan Kokalevski, Łukasz Stanek
Exhibition Design and Research on German Case Studies: Andjelka Badnjar Gojnić
Photography: Alexander Fthenakis, Myrzik und Jarisch
The Gift. Stories of Generosity and Violence in Architecture, Architekturmuseum der TUM in Pinakothek der Moderne, 2025
