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Press release

An exhibition marking the 80th anniversary of the urban development plan "Kollektivplan". With contributions and documents by Willy Karl (Wils) Ebert, Peter Friedrich, Ludmilla Herzenstein, Reinhold Lingner, Hans Scharoun, Luise Seitz, Selman Selmanagiç, Herbert Weinberger, a.o. Curator: Hansjörg Schneider. Co-Curators: Thomas Flierl, Simone Hain. The exhibition project Berlin plant. Stunde Null at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) reconstructs and contextualizes the historic exhibition Berlin plant – Erster Bericht (Berlin Plans. First Report). Originally held in 1946 in the temporarily restored White Hall of the Berlin Palace, it introduced a broad public to the Kollektivplan (collective plan) for Berlin's postwar reconstruction. Marking its 80th anniversary, the project highlights the contemporary relevance of this radical urban design. With a walk-through reconstruction at 1:4 scale, n.b.k. revisits this historic exhibition, which anticipated groundbreaking ecological building principles and pursued participatory approaches. The exhibition includes previously unpublished original plans and materials while also examining the complex historical reception of the Kollektivplan, ranging from rejection and suppression to its enduring influence. It also engages with the discourse surrounding the concept of Stunde Null (Zero Hour). This controversial term implies both the unconditional surrender and the total economic and moral collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945, as well as the hope for a new beginning, unburdened by the past.