Within the frame of the Project Space Award 2017

Can independent project spaces and initiatives escape the imminent threat of being pushed out of the city? What measures, concepts and connections will it take to prevent this from happening? Now is the time for action – and vision!

Host: Bianca Herrling

Participants:
Dr. Torsten Wöhlert (State Secretary for Culture, Berlin)
Daniela Brahm (artist)
Matthias Einhoff (project space operator ZK/U)
Tashy Endres (urban researcher)
Sebastian Schlüter (Humboldt Universität Berlin, Geography Department)
N. N. (representative of the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing)

The squeeze is on! The mechanisms of gentrification associated with the capitalist system are rapidly gaining momentum in the growing metropolis of Berlin.  Always more of a quiet ‘village’ despite its vibrant cultural scene, Berlin has now been almost completely carved up and sold off. And any hard-won ‘creative status’ is now up for negotiation, as the situation becomes precarious for art-makers who rely on spaces outside of their own living quarters to be able to work.  Spaces that are now being taken over by the rich! What kind of activism is advisable? Who must the initiators of project and art spaces convince and with what concepts? Is the job of convincing really their concern? Is every story over at some point? For instance, that of the ‘global capital’ of independent project spaces and initiatives? Initial indications of a change in policy – an ‘Agenda Room’ dedicated to supporting multidisciplinary work spaces – are perhaps a tentative sign of good will. But is the matter really receiving enough attention and support? Or can the urban space only be reclaimed through squatting? It is high time to turn our attention to the question of (free) space – ‘Mind the Space’ – let’s get down to it!

Conception/co-ordination: Chris Benedict and Matthias Mayer/AG Preisverleihung