The Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Venice

Zurich-based architects Baier Bischofberger and the Urban-Think Tank are presenting their vision for the future of Sarajevo’s Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Venice during the 2016 Architecture Biennale.

(Image credit: Daniel Schwartz/U-TT at ETH)

By Ellie Stathaki

last updated 6 September 2022

in Features

The all-too-recent wounds from war and destruction have left the city of Sarajevo with several issues – political, but also urban and architectural ones. A new exhibition in Venice, entitled 'Sarajevo Now: The People’s Museum' and launched at the 2016 Architecture Biennale, takes its cue from the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina and how it 'epitomises this phenomenon,' while trying to help the city to turn a corner from its traumatic past.

Conceived by Zurich-based architects Baier Bischofberger – headed by Florian Baier and Nina Baier-Bischofberger - and Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner from Urban-Think Tank (U-TT), the show, an official biennale collateral participation that was created in partnership with the museum, has a fairly straightforward premise.

'The Urban-Think Tank identified the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an "agent of change" for Sarajevo last year with their "Reactivate Sarajevo" initiative,' explains Baier-Bischofberger. 'As with other cities in crisis where the group had pursued projects, such as Athens, they investigated Sarajevo to identify sites for intervention that would have a broader catalytic impact. The museum immediately identified itself as such a place.'

The building, inaugurated in 1963 and designed to embody the socialist dreams of its era and region, fell into serious disrepair and neglect post the war. Now, a series of actions endeavour to 're-activate' it, raising awareness and creating a proposal to transform it into a power of positive social change for the city. 'It has been kept open and operating by its staff – many volunteers – and the people of Sarajevo, despite an ongoing political conflict that meant the government refused to provide funds or support,' continue the architects. 'Although the physical structure is deteriorating, as an institution it has become a vital civic space of dialogue, culture and education.'

The design presented in this show sees the building wrapped in a transparent vinyl skin that leaves the modernist building’s patina and damage unaltered, while creating a strong juxtaposition between old and new. 'The project attracted Florian and me as an exploration of how architecture can impact and improve the lives of the people of a city,' says Baier-Bischofberger. 'In this case, how a cultural institution can be a force for change and reinvigoration in a city still suffering after a war. The project has the potential to be an example for many other cultural institutions worldwide that are going to need new strategies of reactivation after conflicts have ended.'

At the same time, this protection, suspended from scaffolding, seals off the site, sheltering it from heat and rain. This will buy the museum time, explains the team, allowing it to continue to be a public space and staging point for interventions.

Presenting the museum as a force for urban regeneration, the exhibition includes architectural work, photography and film, as well as a retrospective of the Urban-Think Tank’s research projects from all over the world. Having travelled to Zurich and Munich, the displays will remain in Venice until the end of the month, before it goes to Sarajevo.

The People’s Museum, interior image, exhibition, orange divider screens, grey floor, artwork on the walls and ceiling, grey metal scaffolding framework — The exhibition, entitled 'Sarajevo Now: The People's Museum,' revolves around the architects' proposal for the revival of the building, aiming for it to act as an instigator of social change for the city.

Daytime outside image of the museum, overgrown grass, concrete paved pathway, concrete level of the building, glass fronted corridors, steps, trees, blue sky — The museum, currently neglected and damaged by the war – effectively, a ruin – once embodied the era's socialist dreams.

Rustic brickwall, two rows of photographs on wooden framework — The Venice display, which travelled there from Zurich and Munich where it was previously shown, was created in partnership with the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Daytime outside image of the museum wrapped in transparent vinyl skin, which protects the old structure, leaving it unharmed, rows of green planted vegetables, black and white image so two children and three adults placed onto the image, wall graffiti, purple poles, yellow framework blue cloudy sky — In the Baier Bischofberger proposal, the museum is wrapped in a transparent vinyl skin, which protects the old structure, leaving it unharmed. Image courtesy of BBA/U-TT

Model of the museum interior, grey floor, yellow metal scaffolding, white platforms, steps, model people, brick walls, orange walkway slopes, clear plastic sheet covering part of the model roof — At the same time, this gesture creates a strong juxtaposition between old and new.

INFORMATION

‘Sarajevo Now: The People’s Museum’ is on show in Venice until 30 June. For more information visit Baier Bischofberger’s website and Urban-Think Tank’s website

ADDRESS

Arsenale Nord, Tesa 99
Venice
Italy

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).