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STUDIO PROGRAM BERLIN
ARTIST, CO-INITIATOR OF THE STUDIO PROGRAM
Our initiative started at the time when the Wall had come down
and Germany was reunified,
which resulted in a huge property speculation bubble.
It was obvious that rents were going to increase
because Berlin had become more interesting for investors.
As was to be expected, the first studio contracts were terminated
and rents were put up,
while artists from the east were struggling under repossessions and an insecure future.
Looking at this situation, we got together and said, this cannot be.
There were a lot of exhibitions opening at the time, as there are today,
and we said we'd attend those openings
and tell people that if they want art to be on show in this city,
they need to ensure that the people producing this art have a space to do so.
You can't just stand by and watch the artists go under.
If you value art, you have to get involved.
You can't just use art to position yourself in the limelight,
you need to prove that you have a genuine interest by supporting the artists.
This was our approach.
STUDIO VIEWINGS
We campaigned in museums.
ARTIST, CO-INITIATOR OF THE STUDIO PROGRAM
The idea was that it was strategically essential to campaign
in a place where we could reach the wider public.
So we asked ourselves, "Where is art being consumed?"
"Where do we find people who are interested in art?"
In museums.
They benefit from art, not necessarily from the art we're making at the moment,
more from art by already successful artists,
but they're also closer to the problem.
So we went to those places,
we occupied them, we handed out pamphlets there,
and occasionally we did something a bit more spectacular
like taking our clothes off,
painting letters on our chests and backs
to spell out a slogans such as "artists need studios"
or "no studios, no art".
When the studio program was introduced...
CHAIRMAN, BBK BERLIN E.V.
...it made staying in Berlin more attractive for the artists.
There was even an influx of artists moving here,
because they realised that the city was interested in them and their art.
This also led to lots of galleries coming to Berlin,
and Berlin became a thriving city
where art was created
and the arts business gradually started to develop.
The city became a global hotspot for visual arts.
The studio program was instrumental in this.
The most important thing for artists is a space to work in, the studio.
They also need workshops available to them in the city,
such as printing or sculpting workshops.
This constitutes a typical artists' infrastructure.
This also includes media workshops which the artists themselves
can't afford to pay for on a commercial market basis.
MANAGING DIRECTOR, KULTURWERK BBK BERLIN STUDIO COMMISSIONER 1990 - 1993
Special about the studio program is that it subsidises and infrastructure.
Unlike a scholarship scheme, which might occasionally be linked to a studio space,
the program works the other way round by subsidising studio space,
and you have to make sure
that this space is used appropriately by professional artists.
So the arrangement works in the opposite direction.
The Berlin studio program is organised in a simple way.
The Senate Cultural Department finances a private association
which rents and administrates property on a non-profit basis.
The association rents properties suited to artists' studios,
and then lets them to professional artists,
based on the decision of a committee which is supervised by our studio office.
The artists' rents are kept affordable at a maximum of 4 euros per square metre,
whereas the rents that the association pays can of course be much higher.
The difference is made up by funds from the Senate Culture Department.
However, this also means it isn't a full subsidy,
the state doesn't just give the artists something for free.
60 per cent of the program costs are paid by the artists themselves.
This is important to know.
Any artists living and working in the city
can register their interest for the studios online
and check what's available.
Then they can arrange a viewing for any studios that are on offer,
where someone from the program office is also present,
to find out which rooms are of interest to them as artists.
There are two important issues for the artists,
the first one is that they mustn't exceed a certain income limit,
in other words, they must have little money,
which they need to prove.
They must also prove they are professional artists,
submitting their portfolio etc., which is all being vetted.
And then there needs to be an urgent need.
The urgency is an essential criterion,
both the professional and the social urgency.
Together, they constitute the main criteria
based on which studio spaces are allocated.
The program developed gradually over time.
When we started out, there was just the hardship.
We were also working closely with the Association of Professional Fine Artists,
and there was the Kulturwerk as well,
which we were hoping would become the agencies administrating the program.
Someone had to take on the administrative side.
And there was the question, where do we go from here?
Because we had to build the programs from scratch, they didn't exist.
How do we allocate? What are the criteria?
Where is the studio commissioner based?
The Senate wanted to have him in-house,
whereas we wanted him based at the Association of Professional Fine Artists
as it is an independent committee
and we were sure it would uphold our ethos
which was for an equal chance of access for everyone,
regardless of geographical factors
which determine the Senate's own scholarships.
We are currently facing a difficult situation again.
Residential and commercial property has become scarce.
This is due to the lack of construction over many years
and the privatisation of a lot of city-owned property.
And because of the economic crisis, global flight capital is flooding into Berlin,
tarmacking over parts of the city centre.
The only housing that is built is aimed at high-earning property owners.
All this pushes rents up and potentially drives artists out of the city centre.
Not just artists, also other people on lower incomes
are pushed to the outskirts.
We must counteract this.
Artists cannot work in a green field, this is not an option.
Their infrastructure, their networks would break up,
they are breaking up as we speak.
Gone are the days of interim tenancies and of free spaces.
The politicians need to come up with a new urban development initiative
which provides spaces for culture, for art, and for studios.
The Berlin art scene is so diverse, it's hard to describe.
There's more than just one, there is a multitude of art scenes,
which is extremely exciting for visiting art lovers
as well as for collectors who can hop from one scene to another
and see what's emerging in the respective scenes.
It's impossible to discover everything, by the way.
There are roughly 300 exhibitions here each month,
and you can't visit them all.
That's one exciting aspect, that you hear about something having happened,
and you're really annoyed you've missed it.
So there still is a lot to discover.
It's an incredibly wide range, spanning many city areas.
You could say this is the breeding ground,
this is where important artists of the future are developing.
The program is as important as ever
because the situation for the artists hasn't changed.
Rents are going up again, there's been a recent hike.
Artists aren't always able to keep up with this.
Only a tiny fraction of artists is commercially successful.
According to statistics back then, which probably still apply,
a mere 2 per cent of artists can live off their art.
They have day jobs to supplement their income,
but they are a group of people
who find it very difficult to meet increasing rents.
Nevertheless they are vital to the city.
A city must also have successful projects that don't adhere to our economic system.
Our society also needs people who lead different lives,
which is what artists do, in many respects.
A city like Berlin needs them.
STUDIO PROGRAM BERLIN
subtitles: www.subtext-berlin.com