The landes bau tour was a commission from the Thuringian Ministry of Finance. Preparations for its first edition ran from November 1998 to May 1999; the first tour was on show from 1 May to 17 October 1999 in five locations. Additional updated tours followed annually from 2000 to 2004.

In context of a promotion campaign by the state government of Thuringia the Finance Ministry – representing the highest state-level building authority – intended to put up a travelling exhibition featuring new state-funded infrastructure.

To handle the very varied exhibition spaces – museums, town halls, administrative buildings etc. – I developed a self-supporting exhibition system on the basis of the ‘Peter’-shelves by IKEA. The shelves established a very light, unobtrusive structure to support large-size colour prints of text, plans, drawings, and photos. The individual modules could be arranged and combined as needed, enabling the exhibition to adapt, change, grow, or shrink depending on the respective setting.

The exhibition concept as well as the modules proved to be robust and easy to handle. Thus the exhibition continued travelling all over Germany for more than six years – instead of only going to five venues as originally intended.

The exhibition as seen at different venues:

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Exhibition posters 1999–2004:

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