Save Berlin

2010-03-29T12:22:00.001-07:00

MISSION

Save Berlin is a project aiming to present and catalog ideas about the urban condition of Berlin. To combat unwanted and misguided change, this forum gives everyone a voice in the development of our beloved city. Annual events invite artists architects and conceptual thinkers to offer proposals, concepts and interventions to instigate debate on how the vibrancy of Berlin can be preserved and enhanced. The goal is to bring the discussion of Berlin's future development into the open, not leaving it in the hands of developers and government officials.

What is Save Berlin?

2009-11-03T08:14:00.000-08:00

Save Berlin is a collection of architects and other creative people interested in exploring what makes Berlin such an amazing place, to live, work and create.

Our kick-off event was a three-day festival of art, music, film and performance in November 2009 in Stattbad Wedding, a former swimming pool. We had three floors of exhibitions, live performances, installations, films, food and drinks, and a healthy discussion about how to preserve and promote the best of Berlin as the city speeds into the future.

See press coverage of the SAVE BERLIN events in November 2009.

The exhibition displayed artwork celebrating Berlin and visionary schemes for its future. Architects and artists revisited the city's past, challenged the present and showcased their alternatives for the future - in the form of concrete proposals. In addition, a panel of designers and city planners discussed and debated strategies for planning the city's future.

Re-Invent MORITZPLATZ

The enthusiastic response to our events in November have inspired us to turn our focus to a specific place in the Berlin. We propose an Ideas Competition for Moritzplatz, an overlooked site in Kreuzberg. We're inviting artists, architects and any other interested groups to propose ideas for how to revitalize this once thriving area, and specifically looking for proposals that team designers with community groups to get more people involved in the process.

Competition: Re-Invent MORITZPLATZ!

2009-11-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

Concept:
Re-Invent MORITZPLATZ! is a juried design competition to re-imagine this neglected crossroads at the heart of Berlin. The competition is open to everyone, not just professional designers. In fact, we encourage architects and city planners to develop their proposals in partnership with non-profit groups to ensure community involvement in the design. We also encourage students to offer their creative ideas.

Theme: Collaboration
Choose a specific community group or non-profit organization and submit a design idea for Moritzplatz with that group as your fictitious client. What do they need? What does Mortizplatz need? What does Berlin need? Consider social and environmental responsibility in your design proposal.

Proposals should include two components:
· A new functional program that capitalizes on Moritzplatz's vibrant social and commercial context.
· A new architectural identity that celebrates Moritzplatz as a physical and cultural crossroads.

Introduction To Moritzplatz:
Before World War II, Moritzplatz was a bustling commercial center comparable to Potsdamer Platz and Alexanderplatz. Today it is an undistinguished traffic circle surrounded by empty land. Left to market forces, these empty spaces will be filled by piecemeal housing and commercial development. RE-INVENT MORITZPLATZ is looking for schemes that maximize the potential of this exciting location by uniting these empty spaces into one bold and cohesive master plan.

Moritzplatz I: History

Before World War II, Moritzplatz was a bustling commercial hub at the west end of Oranienstraße. The owners of the Wertheim store on the south corner - one of the world's first department stores - convinced planners to redirect the U8 subway line to Moritzplatz and provide an entrance directly into their building. The Moritzplatz U bahn station opened on April 6, 1928, but the Wertheim store and most of the surrounding area were destroyed by bombing raids in February 1945.

Moritzplatz never recovered. During the Cold War, Prinzenstraße was closed off by the nearby Berlin Wall, and Moritzplatz, like the surrounding Kreuzberg district, languished as an isolated corner of West Berlin. Reconstruction plans were further thwarted by a long-planned urban motorway with a junction at Moritzplatz which was never built.

Moritzplatz II: Today

After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Moritzplatz once again found itself at the center of a reunited Berlin. Prinzenstraße and the U8 subway line were reopened linking Kreuzberg to Alexanderplatz, the revitalized commercial center of East Berlin. Oranienstraße blossomed with a mix of new bars, cafes and restaurants but retained its edgy political identity by hosting annual street parties celebrating May 1st and the alternative CSD (Gay Pride) events. However, none of this new energy has yet found its way to Moritzplatz.

With its central location and easy access to public transportation, the square seems destined for commercial development and gentrification. However, Berlin suffers from a glut of generic apartment buildings and shopping malls. We propose that any development at Moritzplatz should aspire to higher programmatic, social, environmental and architectural goals.

Moritzplatz is a cultural crossroads. It is surrounded by a unique mix of communities - Turks and other immigrants, artists and musicians, gays and lesbians, punks and anarchists, as well as middle class families coming from around the globe. Only by celebrating these communities and incorporating their diverse needs into the planning can Moritzplatz be reborn as a vibrant new hub.

Criteria for choosing winning PROJECTS

The Jury will be asked to chose Projects that:

· Propose a program for the site with a mix of functions appropriate to its cultural context and history

· Create a new and distinctive physical identity for Moritzplatz

· Actively engage with a local community group or non-governmental organization in the development of the program and the physical design

· Build on Berlin's tradition of urban experimentation.

· Celebrate Kreuzberg's 'outsider' communities and encourage interaction between them

· Use compelling graphics to demonstrate the creative solution to the problem

Submission Requirements:
1 A0 poster: orientation = Portrait
(Photographs, Paintings and all other creative Submissions will be accepted as long as they fit the exact size requirements and can easily be hung vertically on a wall.)

1 500 word (1 page max) description of the project.

How to Submit:
TBD

How To Register:
TBD

Entry Fees:

25 Euro per team

Schedule:

TBD

Deadline:
TBD

Jury:
TBD

The Concept

2009-09-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

What's your vision for Berlin?

Berlin is changing. The city's leaders have plans for a sanitized Euro-capital. They're replacing the city's history and character with shopping malls and luxury condos. Their ideas for 21st Century Berlin landmarks: a fake Baroque palace and a copy of London's giant ferris wheel. Berlin is a city of daring artists and irreverent dreamers.

Save Berlin Fest 09 (November 13-15, 2009) taps into Berliners' enormous resource of imagination, asking for new visionary schemes for Berlin, to inspire debate and build a vision for the city's future. Come join the conversation, and let's show we can do better!

1. Berlin in 2009 is a fascinating city. It has everything - a vibrant youth culture, high art, generous infrastructure and cheap rent. It's an island of affordable civilization for outcasts and dreamers. Berlin welcomes Turks and Jews, artists and families, punks and bureaucrats, sexual outlaws and party kids. Its dark past and deep scars are integral to its character and appeal. The cityscape reflects its tumultuous past and heterogenous present.

2. Berlin is in danger. Creeping gentrification is pushing up rents and killing the vibrant mix of cultures, demographics and architecture. Shopping malls, glass towers and unimaginative historical replicas are filling up the gaps in the cityscape, pushing towards a generic uniformity. History is being selectively wiped away or sanitized beyond recognition.

3. The wrong people are making decisions about Berlin's future. Businessmen and bureaucrats strive to upgrade the city into a bland European capital. This isn't what most Berliners envision their city should become.

4. All Berliners deserve a say in their city's future. Foreigners who have chosen to live in this city are inspired by its spirit, history and mythology. They sense what makes Berlin unique. They not only know what should be preserved and cultivated, but can also contribute creative ideas for the future.

5. Save Berlin is a movement that will launch with a three-day event at Stattbad Wedding. From November 13-15, 2009, dozens of architects, artists, performers, musicians and other imaginative Berliners will present their ideas and visions. They'll be revisiting the past, challenging the present and showing their alternatives for the future - in the form of concrete proposals and artistic works. The exhibition will show drawings, models, photographs and installations of the people's vision for 21st Century Berlin, while each night we'll also have a varied program of performances, films, music and discussions.

Projects

2009-09-14T14:38:00.001-07:00

The following are some of the projects submitted for the Save Berlin 2009 Exhibition.

1. Rütli School Campus Design

by Lucas Gray and Mathewson Architecture

2. Architecture Project on the Spree

by Anneke Hillman and Manfred Kaiser

3. Berlin Zentral: save(R) Tempelhof

by Another Architect Studio

5. Tempelhof Metropolis

by Mark Reeder

5. Berlin Wall Ladder

by Peter Rudolf

5. Berlin Corners

by Christina Fischer

Save Berlin Fest 09

2009-09-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

A Slideshow of the Event:

Drawings and Proposals:
Tempelhof Metropolis - Mark Reeder, Michael Martarano
Berlin Wall Ladder - Peter Rudolph
Wrecking Ball Crane - Peter Rudolph
Car Parks - Lucas Gray
Ruetli Campus Proposal - Lucas Gray
Kollwitzplatz Pedestrian District - Katja Pfeiffer
Architecture Project on the Spree - Anneke Hillman and Manfred Kaiser
Köpiburg - Dan Borden
Teufelsberg Monument - Dan Borden, Heidi Kull
Battle of Berlin - Dan Borden, Michael Martarano
Crocheted Satellite Dish Covers - Karina Griffith
Berlin Zentral: save(R) Tempelhof - Another Architect Studio
Lake Berlin - Carl Smith, Oliver Miller, Ryan O’Shea
The Berg - Mila Media & Design
Serve Berlin - SLAB MAGAZINE
Peach Beach, Forward ever, backward never

Paintings and Installations:
S&M Dreamscapes - James Murphy
Untitled Installation - Gunnar Neumann, Zee Boudreaux
Invisible Walls - Jean Ulrick Desért
Untitled Installation - Jason Benedict
Untitled Installation - Alex Storonkin
Refugia - Niklas Goldbach
Untitled Installation - Elmar Vestner
SAVE BERLIN Paintings - Ket Ket Voom
Four Paintings - Robert Lange
Untitled Installation - Florian Weiss
Public Pool - Terrell James
Night Vulture Drawings - Anna Basbacker & Ulla Loge
Berlin Corners - Christina Fischer
Visual Memory Installation - Viviana Alvarez
SAVE BERLIN Video Booth - Lucas Gray, Christian Nordqvist

Photography:
Endangered Sites - David Beecroft
Cities Change - Brian McBride
Untitled Photo Project - Jim Avignon
Fading - Skye von der Osten
Photo Collages of Berlin - Marie Dix
Untitled Photo - Elmar Vestner
Bloody Berlin - photos and drawings by Letizia Mariotti & Chiara Buccheri
Untitled Photographs - David Johannson

Film and Video:
The Last Days of the Palast - Reynold Reynolds
PROLOGUE - Niklas Goldbach
Recorded Performance - Madeline Stillwell
Friday November 13 - Gabriele Stellbaum
Bauakademie Proposals - Nachwuchsarchitekten
Ostkreuz - Thomas Kretschmer
Virtuelle Mauer - Tamiko Thiel
Fast Schloss - Thomas Eller
Portrait of Karina Griffith - Christian Nordqvist
Bist Du bei uns? Wir haben gewonnen! - Pierre Wolter

Performance:
Bridge Markland
Lady Gaby
Gender Fukk Drag - James Murphy
Dogwalk Project - La Machine (Sonia Noya, Carol Börjesson, Onofre Caldentey, Anthony Vouardoux)
Fashion/Dance Event - Fay Alice Studio
S.A.V.E. - Ze Coeupel, Ambra Pittoni and Paul-Flavien Enriquez-Sarano with Yusuke Yamasaki
Creating Social Sustainability - Scott Bolden and Florina Speth (Cello)
Live - Evolution - Linda and Julia and Ines and Julia
Brian Mitchell - Guitar, Gosia Winter, Fay Alice Studio, The White Noise Supremacists, The Gecko, Distress, The Shaidon Effect, Wynton Kelly Stevenson, DAYE, Les Haferflocken Swingers, DJ Flohmarkt.

THE PROGRAM:

Friday 13 November:
6 PM till late: Art Vernissage and Opening party with performances, live music and DJs: Brian Mitchell - Guitar, Gosia Winter, Fay Alice Studio, The White Noise Supremacists, The Gecko, Distress, The Shaidon Effect

Saturday 14 November:
12 PM: Saturday Souk - big Berlin bazaar in and around the pool featuring vintage, art, handmade and homemade products sold by Berliners - entertainment by DJ Flohmarkt
6 PM: Film and discussion evening: documentary film Nicht-Mehr, Noch-Nicht kicks off a panel discussion on urban policies since the fall of the Berlin Wall, including the current challenges and alternatives for the future.
7:30 PM: Panel discussion with Martin Rein-Cano (landscape architect), Topotek 1), Jakob Tigges (The Berg, Mila Burö), Daniel Dendra (architect, anOtherArchitect), Ares Kalandides (branding expert and urban sociologist, INPOLIS and CREATE BERLIN), and Michael LaFond (architect and city planner, eXperimentcity)
9 PM till late - party with performance, live music and DJs: Wynton Kelly Stevenson, DAYE, Les Haferflocken Swingers

Sunday 15 November:
12PM - 6PM: Exhibition
12 PM-2 PM: Save Berlin Brunch Buffet - a banquet of homemade food.
12 PM-2 PM: ExtremBasteln: while parents eat, kids build their ideal Berlin in miniature, helped by two Berlin artists
5 PM: Presentation by Scott Bolden, with Phil Cooksey (Piano/Keyboard) and Florina Speth (Cello)
6 PM: Cabaret 2029: Gabriel Walsh hosts an extravaganza of independent Berlin talents including Bridge Markland , Lady Gaby, Ben Knight, McStupendous, Summer Banks, Catiwhompus plus the spectacle of DogWalk, a combination fashion show and boxing match.

Contact

2009-09-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

email
saveberlin@gmail.com

office
Pasteurstrasse 5
10407 Berlin

press contact
Lucas Gray
Email: saveberlin@gmail.com

Our Partners

2009-09-10T06:28:00.000-07:00

SELL at Saturday Souk Market!

2009-01-05T03:09:00.000-08:00

Interview with Dan Borden, Chief Curator

2009-01-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

By Russell Birdwell

Amidst the blowing leaves and changing winds of fall, there’s a hot oasis of politics, culture and fun. The Save Berlin Fest arrives November 13, touting three days of art, music, film and performances (in a pool!), in an optimistic attempt to breathe some imagination and waft some brisk autumn air into the city’s drab urban and cultural policies. Recognized and lesser-known German and international artists like Reynold Reynolds, Jim Avignon, Thomas Eller, Madeleine Stillwell and David Beecroft will show their work, while local performers, musicians and fashion designers will hit the pool stage and architects (not all sporting square-rim spectacles) will exhibit and discuss their alternative visions for our city’s future. We sat down with Dan Borden, the architect and filmmaker at the artistic helm of SAVE BERLIN, to get a better idea of what to expect.

The debates over the Palast der Republik and the Schloss are very emblematic of the Save Berlin Fest. Was this a driving force for you personally as a curator of the event?
This debate rages on, but for me it was something bigger, more about trying to encourage Berlin’s creative community to get actively involved in the city’s future. There are people planning the future of Berlin, and these are people interested in commerce and a solid tax base, security and stability – that’s their job, but that’s not what makes Berlin special. This city is a magnet for creative people. Why? There’s something intangible that keeps people here. Given the chance, the people in charge will destroy that. So, this is about defining what’s special about Berlin, and becoming advocates for that, for those neglected aspects of the city’s character that the bankers and the bureaucrats are not going to fight for.

Do you really believe an event like Save Berlin could shape the policy of the bureaucrats in power?
I like to think we can have some influence over bureaucrats. As a former bureaucrat myself - as an architect I worked with the New York subway for a while – I know the public’s voice can be heard. There were times when I would contact citizens’ groups and tell them what to say, because I couldn’t get my bosses to listen to me. Decisions are made by a tiny group of people, and then there are these very vocal, crazy advocates for this and that, who push through laws. Bureaucrats tend to lack imagination. You look at the schemes that are coming out in this city and they’re so bland. They’re lame. This is a city that’s been a canvas for brilliant schemes, for utopian schemes. After the Wall came down, that died.

Last spring you made a call for artists and “creative minds” to submit ideas. Some of the works you’ll show are pretty crazy. Isn’t it all a bit utopian?
We’ve asked people to suggest very bold, utopian, crazy schemes. Not so much because we think the city is going to say, “Yes, we’ll build that, we’ll build a mountain, dig a lake, or build Metropolis-city at Tempelhof.” It’s more about getting people who come to this show to think, “I can take an active role.” It’s lighting a fire under the ass of Berlin’s creative community, and turning people a little more proactive about the city’s future. The real creativity that’s coming up is in the small do-it-yourself things, which are more emblematic of Berlin. The city doesn’t know how to support that. We’re trying to shine a spotlight on these things and encourage them.

There’s a lot of expats involved in this event. Why should they have a say in saving Berlin?
People who come from elsewhere, and know the myth of the city, know it from its aura – in a way, they sort of understand the city better than people who have lived there their entire lives, like our mayor, Klaus Wowereit. You always see your hometown as small and provincial and ugly and it’s not New York, it’s not Paris, it’s not London. But if you see it from the outside, you understand what makes it special.

Is there a political agenda to the event?
It’s political in the sense that we would like the creative community and the rest of Berlin to be more conscious of these planning schemes. There are schemes that have been on the drawing boards for 10 or 15 years that no one will even notice until they're built. It’s like Alexanderplatz or Media Spree, O2 World – these were on the board. There was a model of Berlin on display 10 years ago that showed all of these things.

How is the event set up?
There are basically two components: there’s the exhibition - two large rooms with installation pieces, paintings, architecture, drawings, models. The other, in the swimming pool, is going to be performances, films, food, children’s events, and other special events. For me, the heart of it is the exhibition. We’re also going to have a panel discussion, which will be interesting. We’re having our own flea market. It’s a souq. It’s going to be homemade things, local labels, handicrafts, vintage clothes; people will set up blankets in the pool and sell whatever they want. That's also very Berlin.

PRESS

2000-02-07T03:52:00.000-08:00

Learn more about the SAVE BERLIN 2009 event:

The Local

Imagining a New Future for Berlin

EXPATICA.COM

Saving Berlin One Idea at a Time

National Public Radio

Save Berlin Campaign Brings In Alternative Urban Planning

The National

Long Division

BBC World Service

-The Strand radio program Nov. 17, 2009 - report on Berlin architecture

Interview With Dan Borden