Open Space
a long story cut short
In November 1998 we opened the doors and introduced the public to the public space. The name itself was basically our only concept, (in English, it is also the command form to encourage everyone to do the same), there was a strong belief in the utopia of collective creation, which needs space.
Influenced by the New York East Village avant-garde art scene of the eighties and early nineties, we transported the idea of "Artists present Artists", (grounded in 1982 by Carlo Altomare and the Alchemical Theatre on East 4th St.), into the post-techno cosmos of Berlin, as an opposition to the booming market of commercially oriented galleries and the all too established "off" theatre scene.
In fact, our intention was not only to dissolve, (abolish,) the categorization of classic art genres, but to also bring radical political issues into the realm of artistic processes and spaces again. To reunify art, politics, neighbourhood and world.
We maintained this borderline balancing act throughout all of the expected turbulences of group dynamics, of the who and how the space is ruled and organized by hosting a public assembly, (Plenum), every week for eight years where a consensus had to be reached in terms of survival. A renewal of the praxis of anarchic organization in the internet age.
Because there was no money at the beginning, (and also not at the end!), we had to come up with ideas as to the "how" of financing the space. At first we naively tried anything, even heating up "wiener" sausages for the numerous construction workers renovating the buildings all around us as the new Berlin Mitte was being renovated and built all around us. We had little success there, as the workers were sceptical of multi-national artists. Then we successfully caught the last wave of the rave scene by doing chill out parties after larger techno events, passing out micro flyers which looked similar to LSD "tickets." This was very successful, but brought us a completely drugged party crowd which practically demolished our small and beautiful rooms, and sometimes even exhibitions weekly!
Growing pains. What to do? Why not trust the power of our initial goals? We returned to producing art again. We learned quickly about how to attract our real public, and about not prostituting ourselves.
Thursdays we cooked a large vegetarian or vegan dinner for the hungry ones because you cannot do art without nourishment. After dinner, various artists, musicians, performers of all kinds presented works in progress, and sometimes small masterpieces! The weekly open Plenum regulated the practical needs of the space; artists and political activists could express and discuss their project ideas and needs which went on to become the main bulk of our increasingly active program. Needless to say, these meetings were sometimes dreadfully tedious, but were often inspiring, and led to the creation of a surprisingly diverse and up to date venue. The concept was working when one recognized that international artists were rubbing shoulders and communicating with neighbourhood organizers and sometimes even collaborating together.
Over the years the small space became a buzzling platform of the 21st Century Bohemia with participating artists from all over the world. Projects were travelling to other locations in the city of Berlin, as well as to other cities and countries. Workshops were being taught. Young bands were born. Correspondences and collaborations were being born with groups such as the Alchemical Theatre, N.Y.C., The Black Girls Coalition, (a circle of N.Y. drag queens which had social ambitions to help queer migrants), the Nomadic Gallery SOTODO, (with which we co-hosted the international congress of performance art in 2003, and 2004), and the Estonian Performance artists of NonGrata, with which we developed the most interesting and intimate artistic dialogue. (to name a few) "Open Space in Outer Space" In 2004 Open Space residential artists formed the Open Space Performunion, a performance collective which had already done many exhibitions and live acts with one another in various configurations but which never before existed as a group with a common name. We have now been invited for the third time by NonGrata to Estonia for the Diverse Universe Festival. We return often to our initial intent, that is to say, of seeing Art as a Political necessity; underlining that there is for us no such thing as non-political art, we have maintained contact with the local and global activists, which the Berlin climate so richly provides, and wish to emphasize that our orientation is very connected to Anarchic Pacifism. "The meaning of all dance and art is finally to achieve peace" Judith Malina In October 2005, Open Space hosted an evening of local Berlin G8 activists and critics. They presented an evening of doku films of Genoa and of Glen Eagles followed up by exchanges and discussions as to new strategies. Many of our fans, supporters and partners refer to this evening as the beginning of the end, which it was, for the evening was controlled by undercover agents of the LKA, (Landes Kriminal Amt). They boast no claims of being irritated by the content of this evening, (Germany reclaims to being a Democracy), but pinned us with charges of operating an illegal bar. What follows is a rather tedious and boring story of court trials, (four of them), where no public word was uttered about politics, controls, over the public assembly of ideas, voices, visions, about art, about the use of internet as a surveillance medium, (for our internet site which we had been proud to have achieved had been obviously used over a longer time to observe our activities with scepticism and mistrust). No, it was not that way, it was merely a burocratic crack down based upon some new laws, (unknown to us), about the serving of beer in a community service location. We researched the alternatives, which would have been costly, not so much for the changes of our legal status or for the licences, but rather for the architectural changes required, and because of the further threats about international advertising and the ultimate threat that live art would be in the future not possible. But life is to short. After a happy anarchic period of 8 years, we decided to close the space on the Adalbertstr.32 and concentrate on our own artistic ambitions. Perhaps we've finally arrived in Open Space!