The influential Ulm School, at the centre of the second edition of Mugak/, the Basque Country International Architecture Biennial

2019 July 3

Ulm transformed the home environment and introduced design into its most commonly used products; it is also present in the design of the top brands of contemporary industry.

The Housing Department of the Basque Country organises the second edition of the Biennial in collaboration with twenty organisations and institutions. The University of the Basque Country will play a prominent role through the San Sebastian Higher Technical School of Architecture.

It will take place between the 10th of October and the 12th of December and include over a hundred activities. Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz will join the Biennial with different events.

Basque Minister Iñaki Arriola pointed out that, after the success of its first edition, Mugak has been consolidated as one of the major highlights of architecture in Europe and one of the most relevant cultural events in the Basque Country.  

A unique exhibition on the Ulm School (1953-1968), focal point of modern industrial design, will be at the core of the II Basque Country International Architecture Biennial - Mugak/, which was presented this morning by the Basque Minister for Environment, Land Planning and Housing, Iñaki Arriola, along with its Curator, architect from San Sebastian Pedro Astigarraga.

The exhibition will combine architecture and design and be hosted in two venues—the Basque Country Architecture Institute and the San Telmo Museum. Through a wide range or pieces, it will show the public Ulm’s enormous influence on the top brands of contemporary industry, mainly on everyday objects. Ulm revolutionized the home environment and introduced design into its most commonly used products. One of its main exponents is Braun, the German brand with which it collaborated between 1955 and 1960.  

In the words of Basque Minister Arriola, this second edition starts “with the aim of consolidating its position as one of the major architecture highlights in Europe and one of the most relevant cultural events in the Basque Country.”

Over a hundred events comprising lectures, exhibitions, workshops and round tables will fill the city of San Sebastian, Mugak’s epicentre, between the 10th of October and the 12th of December. Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz will also play a main role in this edition and host exhibitions, workshops, lectures and shows.

The Biennial will be hosted in San Sebastian’s Old Town. Most of the events will take place around the axis formed by the new Basque Country Architecture Institute (located in the Santa Teresa convent and Mugak/’s main seat), Trinidad square and the San Telmo Museum. It will also climb up to the Bastion’s Lookout on Urgull Hill, take up different urban spaces and organise parallel activities in other venues, such as Tabakalera or the Kursaal.

The largest number of proposals will be concentrated on the central week, between the 21st and the 27th of October.

Besides, this year’s Biennial will install temporary exhibition halls on the streets of San Sebastian, inviting us to reflect on the evolution of housing and housing needs of people throughout their lives.

Mugak/ is promoted by the Department for Environment, Land Planning and Housing of the Basque Government in collaboration with other administrations and entities of the cultural and architecture fields. Among them, we can find the San Sebastian City Council, the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, the University of the Basque Country through the Higher Technical School of Architecture, the Professional Association of Basque-Navarre Architects, the Basque Country Architecture Institute and the San Telmo Museum.

Also involved are the Peña Ganchegui Archive, the Civic Association Ancora, Atari (the Basque Country Architecture Culture Association), the Rezola Cement Museum, the Eraikune cluster, the Habic cluster, Maushaus, the Kursaal Congress Centre, Tabakalera and the Urban Bat festival. Currently, the programme is still in process and open for new collaborations.

The Ulm School

As it was already mentioned, the main exhibition of the Biennial will be devoted to the Ulm School, which was founded in 1953 in that German city. This centre focused on research and development in the fields of urban development, industrial architecture, product design, graphic design and communication during the 1950s and 60s. It continued and developed the Bauhaus Weimar-Dessau-Berlin, which is celebrating its centenary this year. In fact, Ulm’s first rector was Max Bill, a Swiss artist, architect and designer as well as former Bauhaus student.

The “Ulm School” applied the differential value of the idea to the intellectual and productive process of architecture and industrial design. Therefore, its review and study can offer today a useful example aimed at helping the improvement and optimisation of our thinking and production models.

In the end, Ulm influenced the planning, architecture and design of the top brands of German industry that are known to us now, as well as others like Apple. Steve Jobs himself recognised the influence of this German school on the design of his products.

“Ulm succeeded in bringing its principles closer to all citizens through the design of its objects, an idea that perfectly fits into Mugak/’s philosophy”, Pedro Astigarraga, Curator of the Biennial, explained.

The importance of University

The physical presence of the University really tells Mugak/ apart from other biennials around the world. As it was the case in its first edition, the students of the San Sebastian Higher Technical School of Architecture will leave the campus during the Biennial’s central week and move their lectures to the Old Town. Other invited universities from Spain as well as from other European countries will participate.

The Biennial programme will again include the presence of leading architects, whose names will be announced shortly. Mugak/ will continue to foster reflection and discussion on the current state of architecture and the role to be played by its professionals. Besides, it wishes to explore the borders that unite and separate this discipline from art, culture or philosophy.

In this sense, Basque Minister Arriola wanted to highlight the international and multidisciplinary focus of the Biennial, which “intends to position the Basque Country as a reference and meeting point for architecture and culture professionals and citizens at large.”

“Once again,–he added–we want to reflect on the role that Architecture should play in our society and discover how it affects the different aspects of our daily life and influences our quality of life.”

All activities will be announced in the Biennial’s webpage (www.bienalmugak.eus), as well as in social media.