Schillerstrasse 94
Berlin 10625
Germany
Experimental is a Berlin-based non-profit organization founded by the architect Prof. Regine Leibinger. Since 2022, it has been promoting practice-based experimental and research-oriented projects in sustainable architecture.
In March 2024, Chrissie Muhr took over the further development and establishment of Experimental as Co-Managing Director and Artistic Director. As an architect, researcher and curator, in her new role she will continue to build on her strategic practice and agency in the transition to sustainable architecture.
In 2023, she curated the exhibition and edited the publication “Reset Materials – Towards Sustainable Architecture” at Copenhagen Contemporary (CC) art centre, which investigated the potential of regenerative and recycled materials with ten multidisciplinary teams from architecture and art, with partners from both the research and the industry. As inaugural Artistic Director of the first Architecture Week Basel (AWB) 2022 she launched the Basel Pavilion, examining building with reused components and urban transformation.
Chrissie Muhr succeeded Prof. Dr. Matthias Ballestrem, who was Co-Managing Director of Experimental and Program Director of the Bauhaus Earth Fellowship Program (BE-FELLOW – a collaboration between Experimental and Bauhaus Earth) from 2022 to March 2024. Matthias Ballestrem proceeds as a professor at TU Dortmund University and will remain associated with Experimental as a member of the advisory board. Experimental will hence be managed by founder and director Prof. Regine Leibinger, Hans-Wilhelm Käsewieter and Chrissie Muhr.
Experimental focuses on the systemic-analytical and practical building experiment that is intimately linked to knowledge exchange and dissemination. The program aims to foster emerging talents testing new modes of practice, engagement and knowledge in relation to changing natural and disciplinary boundaries and across diverse geographies and contexts. Chrissie Muhr is currently further developing the fellowship program to include new formats such as publications, exhibitions and symposia, as well as new collaborations and networks.
Launched in 2022 the BE-FELLOW program awarded its first fellowship to the London-based Material Cultures. With a further three fellows—Baukreisel, Kevin Kimwelle and Angie Dub & Heidi Jalkh – the investigations are promoted and showcased in the form of material fragments and reports.
The next Open Call of the BE-FELLOW will be announced in May 2024. Following the international jury’s decision in September, the fellowship will run until summer 2025.
Further Information
Chrissie Muhr is an architect, researcher and curator. Muhr mediates architecture, design and art through content and form, engaging in teaching, research and practice alongside decision-makers in society, politics and business. She has worked on a wide range of projects at Vitra and Arch+ Magazine in Berlin, among others. Muhr is a regular member of juries and teaches internationally at ETH Zurich, HEAD Genève, HGK Basel, écal Lausanne, TU Munich and AA Visiting School/the Laboratory at the State Academy of Fine Arts (ABK) Stuttgart. She lives in Basel since 2014.
Experimental is a Berlin-based non-profit organization founded by the architect Prof. Regine Leibinger in 2022. It fosters projects that seek to chart new territory in the field of architecture, with the goal of changing how and with what we build. Experimental is committed to sustainability but goes beyond the technical, focusing on the spatial quality and aesthetics of the built environment. It offers emerging talents financial and organizational support, giving them space to experience the joy of experimentation and to raise unconventional questions and project ideas.
The project-based Bauhaus Earth Fellowship Program (BE-FELLOW) is designed to provide fellows with the financial freedom and a stimulating intellectual and professional mentorship and environment that includes a lab in Marienpark.
BE-FELLOW is a collaboration between Bauhaus Earth and Experimental. Bauhaus Earth is an interdisciplinary think-and-do tank, lab and learning network located in Marienpark Berlin, where new ideas for collaborative, aesthetic and regenerative ways of building and living are created.
Press contact and enquiries: press@experimental-foundation.com
