IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section A

Abstract

Berlin is known as a hub for arts and culture. The basis on which this hub has been built – affordable living and available work-spaces – is threatened due to an ever-increasing rise of rents and privatisations of properties used for culture. Demand for affordable work-spaces for art and cultural expression and production remains high in the city. While the current literature on cultural spaces and place-making in the German capital has focused on the use of temporary spaces and their usage within city marketing, there is currently a lack of analysis focusing on governmental responses and strategies to tackle the issues facing Berlin’s cultural scene. This paper assesses the role of culture in urban development policies in Berlin. Focus is given to policies aimed at shaping, preserving, creating, or financing the cultural landscape in Berlin. Legislative documents of the committee for cultural affairs of the Berlin state legislature, senate policy documents, and strategy papers concerning culture, as well as qualitative interviews, serve as the empirical basis for the analysis. Furthermore, documents from non-political actors such as artists’ associations and cultural collectives are included in the analysis. It is shown that especially Berlin’s free cultural scene and independent artists suffer from increasing financialization pressures and the large discrepancy between themselves and ‘high culture’ institutions in terms of funding and space.