'museum of immortality II' at design week mexico

for design week mexico, german architects nikolaus hirsch and michel müller have constructed a pavilion in mexico city’s chapultepec park. named ‘museum of immortality II’, the installation will remain in the city’s largest public park until spring 2017. based on an unrealized exhibition concept developed by german-russian philosopher boris groys, the original ‘museum of immortality’ was presented as an experimental exhibition in beirut, organized by artist anton vidokle.

all images by alberto jurtega

presented during the 8th edition of design week mexico, nikolaus hirsch and michel müller’s design is situated in the gardens of museo tamayo. reminiscent of both sarcophagi and museum vitrines, modules have been assembled into a 6 x 6 and 8 meter-high hexagonal structure.

the pavilion is located in mexico city’s chapultepec park

‘the project draws on 19th century russian philosopher nikolai federov’s notion of the ‘common task’, which envisions the creation of the social and political conditions necessary to achieve technological immortality and material resurrection for all men who have ever lived,’ explains the design team. ‘federov believed that museums provided the ideal setting for such resurrections to take place, having developed preservation and conservation techniques.’

the installation will remain in the large public park until spring 2017

after the horizontal system in beirut, the new structure in mexico city will become the museum of immortality’s first vertical configuration, resembling a hybrid between mausoleum and space capsule. the structure is accompanied by a 30-minute video by anton vidokle and oleksiy radynski, which explores the theoretical premises of the project.

the design is reminiscent of both sarcophagi and museum vitrines

‘we are thrilled to show a prototype for the museum of immortality in mexico city,’ says architects nikolaus hirsch and michel müller. ‘its deep fascination with death cults makes mexico a very special context for such a speculative project. based on theories of cosmism and resurrection by philosopher boris groys and artist anton vidokle, we try to speculate on the limits of what we call design and the material world. we ask: can we design afterlife? can — as the context of the museo tamayo suggests — humans be preserved like museum artifacts?’

modules have been assembled into a 8 meter-high hexagonal structure