The Material Dimension of Maintenance: Repairing

The annual cycle of Biennales in Venice is set out as a performative showcase and uses an incredible amount of resources. It is not exceptional for a single contribution to use more than 200 cubic meters of un recyclable expanded polystyrene (EPS). The concept of the German contribution to the Architecture Biennale 2023 hinges on ex clusively working with previously used materials. After the end of the Biennale Arte 2022, materials from over 40 pavilions and ex hibitions—which would otherwise have been dis carded—were gathered and exhibited in the German Pavilion as “spolia.” However, this material repository is no immutable exhibition: Its contents will be made accessible for reuse in other projects across Venice over the entire duration of the Architecture Biennale. A fully operational workshop in the Pavilion will benefit this project and act as a platform to promote urban interventions in cooperation with local grassroots organizations. Fostering a buil ding practice conscious of its material usage is in itself a form of main te nance work on the existing building stock.