2023,

DOOM SPA

2023,

2015

Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee

83

Berlin

10589

doomspa.org

Der Projektraum DOOM SPA wurde 2015 von Roseline Rannoch gegründet. DOOM SPA nimmt sich bestehende oder schafft neue Räume und entwickelt in Zusammenarbeit mit befreundeten und ein- geladenen Künstler:- und Kurator:innen ästhetische und diskursive Formate. DOOM SPA verortet sich sowohl digital als auch physisch. Seit 2019 ist DOOM SPA vor allem im Berliner Westen aktiv, aktuell im 13. Stock eines Hochhauses am Wittenbergplatz. DOOM SPA legt Wert auf Gastfreundschaft und betreibt eine Bar. DOOM SPA ist ein Raum für Kunst und ihre Subjekte (Künstler:innen). Widersprüche gilt es auszuhalten. Es gibt keine Widersprüche.

The city has become more expensive overall and therefore there is less free space – there are less “Freiräume”. Our definition has not changed as a project space. The concept of an ideal space is completely dependent on what the organizers/artists/curators are interested in doing. In our opinion, there isn’t ONE type of space that is ideal which is actually what is so wonderful about project spaces in general – they are diverse, and completely different. It seems that because of the lack of spaces and the increased rents, more project spaces have turned towards commercial models. But since funding has become more commonplace in the scene, meaning it’s more common to pay artists who are involved in shows, performances, readings, events, etc. at project spaces, this has put more pressure on spaces in general to have to secure financing. We would argue that since funding has become more readily available, the structures have begun to change. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. It’s wonderful to receive funding and be able to support artists, and as a result, the scene has become much more professional. But at the same time, it is harder in some ways to do projects more spontaneously and in an improvised fashion. This, as a result, has changed the (power) dynamics between the artists and the project space organizers, as very often the organizers are NOT funded but the artists participating in the projects are. This creates a rather awkward dynamic and as organizers ourselves, it’s frustrating for us to not be paid for our efforts and contributions to the “Freie Szene”.The art scene, spaces, artists, and initiators in the past ten years (being a continuum of what has gone before) in a nutshell, can be seen to have changed from individual authorships to more collective ones. They act in opposition to the anonymized corporate structures, in particular the giant housing conglomerates (these destructive collective edifices that have the same legal rights as a sentient individual human being) that threaten to dissemble the unique fabric of the city of Berlin that provided a fertile ground in which these initiatives could rise, connect, and thrive. So the project room scene provides a positive counter-weight to these destructive development processes as a living, breathing, collaborative, and inclusive network. I hope that this fabulous project room network does not drown in the indifference of mainstream political thinking in the city of Berlin.Art has the power to make people think and feel differently. Art has the power to activate change.