A FOLDER
Simona Malvezzi
#Agora
A Folder is a digital talk in which the guest shares their screen to narrate a specific collection, random obsession, sustained inspiration, or longterm research found within a specific folder living on their laptop.
Simona Malvezzi presents Menschen, Autos, Bäume an accumulation of images taken from the internet and post-produced to recreate pseudo-real situations within the architectural renderings of her projects. Looking back and scrolling through these images, one wonders if the people portrayed are aware or not of their infinite reproducibility. Some look like actors mimicking natural poses. In fact, there are sites where you can buy images of adults walking, elderly people sitting, young people talking in groups.
Simona Malvezzi founded Kuehn Malvezzi in Berlin in 2001 together with Wilfried Kuehn and Johannes Kuehn. Public spaces and exhibitions are the main focus of her work with Kuehn Malvezzi. They realized the architectural design for Documenta 11, the Flick Collection in the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin as well as the Julia Stoschek Collection in Dusseldorf. The firm has designed the reorganisation of a number of contemporary and historical art collections and dealt as well with sensitive preservation issues for listed buildings such as the Museum Belvedere in Vienna, the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt, the Berggruen Collection and the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin as well the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Brunswick. Their projects have been shown in international solo and group exhibitions, including the 10th, 13th and 14th Architecture Biennial in Venice and Manifesta 7 in Trento. Kuehn Malvezzi participated in the 1st Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2015 and took part in the second edition in 2017. In 2019, they have been invited to the Lisbon Architecture Triennal.
Simona regularly lectures at international institutions like Harvard GSD, the Aalto University in Helsinki, the CCA Montreal, Maxxi Museum in Rome, the Architecture Faculty of Marne la Vallee. She is author of numerous publications and contributes to the debate around the relation between art and architecture with articles and essays published by Domus, Archplus, Frieze, Kaleidoscope, Mousse.