BITTE LEBN – Urbane Kunst & Subkultur in Berlin 2003 – 2021

BITTE LEBN begins in 2003 in the center of Berlin. New urban planning, unclear ownership and legal gray areas had created a unique situation for the development of art and subcultures after the fall of the Wall. Many took the opportunity to appropriate and use fallow spaces. A graffiti scene that had been growing for decades met with artists and activists from all over the world.

There was a creative explosion on the streets. Countless works were created on surfaces such as walls, roofs, traffic signs or bulky waste. The search for empty industrial facilities, roofs or hard-to-reach places became a leisure activity. Mobile sound systems conquered wastelands and parks with techno parties. Workshops, neighborhood and project stores, and other spaces for noncommercial culture organized events and festivals that gave at least an inkling of what life after capitalism might feel like.

Over the past twenty years, Berlin’s cityscape has changed dramatically. On the one hand, the city is characterized by a large and vibrant art and cultural scene that develops and exemplifies alternative social designs. At the same time, people have to defend themselves against being forced out of their apartments and stores because rents have exploded. Many subcultural spaces have disappeared, non-commercial cultural centers have been evicted or are threatened, formerly vacant industrial sites and wastelands have been torn down and built on. What are our utopias that we want to oppose the existing world?

The 480-page book by the Reclaim Your City network can be ordered by Assoziation A.