Materia: Band 2

We have lost the ability to see what the buildings around us are made of. Materiality seems to have become transparent, a mere means to an end. In this catalog to accompany its inaugural exhibition, the LWL-Museum Hellerlecht sharpens our gaze to these aspects. The new exhibition space is itself an exhibit—as are the materials from which it is made: rammed clay, wood, straw, and eco-concrete. Through essays, works of art, and objects from daily life, this volume traces a cultural history through materials, from Le Corbusier’s Maison Dom-Ino to Doris Salcedo’s sculptures and the xylotheque of the Thünen Institute. At the center is the relationship between material and time, growth, maintenance, and transience. This publication thus opens up a sensual and political perspective on the materials that we so often take for granted.