2020,

Crystal Ball

2020,

2007

Schönleinstraße

7

Berlin

10967

galeriecrystalball.de

Außenansicht, 2020, Foto: Lydia Karstadt

Kirsty Kross, Lost-and perhaps even possibly found, 2012

For many decades Berlin has developed a lively, diverse, and independent way of producing culture and counteracting government decisions, based on, local, generous, and enthusiastic, but also worried, social communities that exchanged resources and ideas within a larger political debate. The city became a “natural” shelter and fertile environment for dissidents, artists, political refugees, and immigrants with any background also due to the need to overcome a traumatic past full of human generated atrocities that are still present in people memories and behaviour.… But definitely key words such as “project space”, “artist-run”, “grassroots”, “laboratory”, etc. are still good key words (to be constantly re-discussed) that underline the spirit and intention of such open experiments that somehow can only function as open experiments! A free interactive and inclusive format to create, express, and exchange interdisciplinary ideas with spontaneous, playful, DIY approaches; having access to and exchanging various physical spaces to manifest all facets of what independent cultural production can unfold – also in the sense of creating social awareness and responsibility due to the fact that every single participant, no matter the “role” or “title” is deeply aware & involved in the process of making things happen, sharing responsibilities and profits (if there are any 🙂 … Investors and businesses assumed the form of faceless international partnerships with enormous capital and devouring public resources deciding on the future of all citizens, delivering less and less social protection and consideration for cultural and social diversity.It always feels quite special when an institution catches the zeitgeist of a moment. Project spaces have a lot more freedom in this sense, and they can truly, sincerely, reflect a moment or a movement as it is happening. They are essential to a critically active arts scene. Perhaps the orientation of project spaces has been forced to shift towards something more self-sustainable – but that might not be a bad thing.