"Stuttgart is tearing itself down" was the title of the unusually successful exhibition at the Weißenhofgalerie in 2016, curated by Claudia Betke (+2023), with photos by Wolfram Janzer and Wilfried Dechau. On display were some important, listed buildings and some everyday buildings shortly before demolition and during the demolition work. It was regretted that it was only possible to show the buildings and their demolition, but not what was to be built in their place or has been built in the meantime. And that is why it is being considered to follow up the exhibition with part 2. Now the time has come.

Wilfried Dechau has re-photographed all the demolition sites from the former exhibition. The before and after photos are juxtaposed without comment. And they provoke questions. Were total demolitions really necessary? Is the new convincing?

Everything could have been done in a more culturally aware, resource-conserving way and with careful component analysis to achieve better results. Fortunately, the examples in the exhibition show that we have become wiser and that these are precisely the questions that need to be answered before every demolition.

www.weissenhofgalerie.de