Art for the people – What art brings to urban spaces!

This was demonstrated during a tour of four locations in the city centre on Wednesday afternoon (17 September 2025) for interested politicians from the Berlin House of Representatives. Artists Eva Susanne Schmidhuber and Stef Heidhues presented their multi-part works in the new school buildings on Nostitzstraße and Adalbertstraße. Particularly impressive was the commitment with which the artists actively integrated their works into school life. And they are also consciously taken up there and inspire school life in many ways, as headmistress Ms Rother in Adalbertstraße reported.

Christof Zwiener conveyed the importance and necessity of art in urban spaces with his Tiny Forest ‘Gertraudenhain’ on Leipziger Strasse. His participatory project highlighted the potential synergy between art and society in jointly improving inner-city living conditions.

The floor mosaic ‘The Tale of the Scale and the Skull’ by Alona Rodeh surprised some politicians who had already visited PETRI Berlin but were not yet familiar with the art on the building. This immediately prompted an exchange of memories of archaeological studies during the training of some of those involved.

The concluding trip across Alexanderplatz to the nGbK illustrated how art and urban development can interact. The impression of the space is also significantly influenced by the monumental works of art in the building from the 1960s. In contrast, art is not taken into account at all in the planning of new urban quarters today.

All participants were very impressed by the compact programme, the successful presentations by the artists and the accompanying explanations by Martin Schönfeld.

Dialogue event on art in public spaces at the nGbK

Under the motto ‘Art to the People – What art brings to urban spaces!’, artists discussed the topic with politicians from the Berlin House of Representatives and experts from the administration on Wednesday evening (17 September 2025). The starting point was the radical cuts envisaged in the 2026/2027 budget for art in urban spaces (minus 66 per cent) and district cultural projects in urban spaces (‘Draussenstadt’). The latter will be completely eliminated, resulting in a loss of 500,000 euros per year. This will primarily affect decentralised projects in the districts.

This surprised the participants, as art in urban spaces follows a basic principle of democratic cultural policy: active participation and low-threshold art education break down prejudices, promote understanding and strengthen society against authoritarian tendencies. Since the 2000s, art in construction and urban spaces has been experiencing a renaissance through temporary and participatory projects, because they often provide citizens with their only access to art. Art in public spaces is not an accessory – it is a driving force for social participation, political debate and urban development.

Unfortunately, the dialogue event revealed a lack of commitment to art in public spaces on the part of Berlin politicians. In contrast, other cities are consciously focusing on strengthening art in urban spaces. Helsinki was cited as a shining example, where private investments are also committed to art in construction and art in urban spaces. In addition, there is a dedicated outreach programme.

In the second part of the dialogue event, participants discussed the current framework conditions for art in construction and art in urban spaces. Five World Café tables were accompanied thematically by artists Sven Kalden, María Linares, Stefan Krüskemper, Katrin Schmidbauer and Susanne Bosch, with a focus on artistic practice.

Among other things, the frequent discrepancy between objectives on the one hand and bureaucratic approval processes on the other was addressed. Suggestions for more diverse participation and judging in the organisation of competitions were developed, for example through lottery procedures or open juries. The strengthening of long-term cooperation between art, administration and institutions, for example in specialist commissions, was discussed. There were calls for active mediation of art projects and greater visibility for them. These are just a few of the many suggestions that rounded off a lively evening. They should be taken into account when preparing future projects.