next to neue nationalgalerie berlin, manuel rossner’s pink pavilion makes a case for the digital

Manuel rossner’s pink pavilion at the wrong biennale

In Berlin, the sixth edition of the Wrong Biennale welcomes digital architect Manuel Rossner and his fluffy pink pavilion named New Float. It is a digital exhibition space positioned in Berlin with no physical presence. However, it can be geolocated to the coordinates of the Kulturforum next to Potsdamer Platz. Manuel Rossner says that the pink pavilion is positioned next to Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie, Hans Scharoun’s Philharmonie and Germany’s National Library. Interestingly enough, Manuel Rossner picks the lot of the construction site for Herzog & de Meuron’s Museum of the 20th Century.

It is a conscious decision he made on his end, stating that ‘the building is supposed to cost more than 450 million Euro and is heavily criticized for its environmental impact. By choosing this particular location, we make use of a vacant space that is not accessible until the construction is finished in 2026.’ Manuel Rossner wants to spotlight how essential it is to create digital spaces for a modern, digital society and to illustrate the possibilities of digital spaces and the lack of focus on the digital in traditional institutions. While waiting for the new Museum of the 20th Century, viewers can enjoy what the New Float has in store for them by roaming around the digital exhibition space online during the Wrong Biennale.

images by New Float / Manuel Rossner

New float draws its design cues from masterpieces

For New Float, Manuel Rossner was inspired by several concepts of masterpieces of architecture, including Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie. The pillowy pink architecture is, in fact, made of three pillows, each with a distinct functionality. The entrance hall at the front houses a lobby, a library, a bookshop, and a conceptual metaverse restaurant called SPACE BAR. The second pillow is used for temporary projects, often a space that Manuel Rossner employs to create his new spatial experiences in an experimental manner.

In the third pillow, the viewers find selected works from the New Float Collection. For The Wrong Biennale in Berlin, the fluffy pink pavilion is hosting Clusterduck’s newest digital project Deep Fried Feels, which dives into processing the trauma of information, language, and identity loss. The exhibition is curated by Manuel Rossner himself, and it looks at the present, future, and past of online communication, including memes as a form of communication and the use of metaverses, generative AIs, and alien intelligence in modern connections and conversations.

Manuel Rossner’s animated New Float video

Hosting digital exhibitions inside fluffy pink pavilion

Manuel Rossner imagines a dynamic architecture for the New Float. While physical museums are built to stand the test of time, a digital exhibition space like his pink pavilion refreshes around 60 times per second on each visitor’s device. New Float uses this condition by staying flexible since all of its spaces can be modified or new ones added. The design of the collection responds to each artwork, and even the walls can place different artworks together or separate them from others.

Earlier this year, Manuel Rossner opened the doors of New Float to virtual visitors for his exhibitions The World is Not Enough and I Wrote This Script. The former presented a selection of images, videos, and 3D objects from the collection, while the latter exhibition showed Manuel Rossner’s conversation with ChatGPT to create the body of work. These days, virtual visitors can swing by Clusterduck’s Deep Fried Feels when they visit New Float online.

New Float is a digital exhibition space positioned in Berlin with no physical presence