“TACHELES” Berlin’s Squat: Where history, contemporary art and democracy meet
When the berlin wall fall in 1989, thousands of East Berliners fled the east, leaving masses of buildings empty. Many of these squats ended up being filled by West Berliners and street artists looking for a cheap place to live…..
This is when the old Jewish Quarter becomes a place for everyone in betweens (Many Berline squats housing artists, pensioners, ex-pats, and everyone in between)… discrimminating no one and allowing everyone with passion and artistic talent to exhibit their works…
(Jewish word ‘to disclose, to reveal, to speak clearly” )
situated in a ruin in Belin Mitte
Meeting point for people interested in arts and culture. Alternative Berlin.
HISTORY OF THE PLACE:
- Shopping mall built in 1907
- Bankrupted and taken over by AEG in 1928
- World War 2: used by Nazi for adminstration and organization department, also to detained French POWs
- 1943- 1945: building hit and damaged by allies
- After War, left in ruins (partly restored). Storage area.
- Planned to be demolished in 1990 but the wall fall and the plan is abolished
- 1990: young artists took over the building
Subculture emerges…
Artists and individualists from all over the world used the plurality of available free spaces to put alternative lifestyles to the test.
The space for individual expression and creativity…..
Democracy.
Other sources:
Lala travel: Artists’ squatted houses
Some of the Photos that I took when I was there (April 2010):
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