Fragments rescued from over 40 pavilions displayed at last year’s art biennale have been reused for Germany’s submission to the architecture festival in Venice.

Entitled Open for Maintenance, Germany’s pavilion is a more deconstructed version than biennale-goers have come to expect from the event. According to the curators, its unconventional approach is inspired by the squatters movement in Berlin, as well as conversations around urban renewal and how to sustainably adapt and reuse existing buildings.

The pavilion neatly connects with Maria Eichhorn’s 2022 Venice Art Biennale submission, which saw the post-war modifications of Germany’s pavilion removed in an attempt to return it to its original state.

Bare brick walls, revealed by these changes, now overlook disparate pieces of other artworks – rolls of fabric turned into stools, a table balanced on a mish-mash of legs, and a room of pipes, columns, wood sheeting and tiles.

According to the curatorial team: ‘This integration of “spolia” is part of a new material assemblage creates surprising new contexts of meaning and impairs unique cultural and creative value to the leftover materials.’

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