008 - Swan song uncovers real estate thriller with installation
Tacita Dean, Palast (still), 2004
Courtesy the artist, Marian Goodman and Frith Street Gallery
Swan song of the Berlin art world
Hello Smart Art Lover,
Before the start of Berlin Art Week, I took advantage of the calm before the storm to address a topic that has been in the media for some time. The end of Berlin as an art city. Perhaps it all began with Gesine Borcherdt's swan song Can Berlin still be saved? a year ago. She revels in the nostalgia of the spirit of new beginnings at the turn of the millennium and accuses the Berlin city government of provincialism. In June of this year the Financial Times followed in this vein with Guy Chazan's Art World says goodbye to Berlin. He addresses the difficult situation of some private collectors. Mick Flick (http://www.fcflick-collection.com/current) 's collection rooms in the Rieckhallen are to be demolished. Axel Haubrok is not allowed to show any exhibitions in his rooms in Lichtenberg under threat of a EUR 500,000 fine. Julia Stoschek is considering leaving Berlin. Thomas Olbricht has closed his ME Collection in Auguststraße. The Hofmann Collection and the archive of Egidio Marzona are going to Dresden. The article ends with Axel Haubrok's conclusion that the city does not show appreciation for its collectors.
The author does not mention the city's other numerous private collections. Also I see the summer exhibition local talent curated by Thomas Demand at Sprüth Magers and the opening of Studio Berlin in Berghain next week as clear counter-points to Berlin’s ‘swan song’ narrative. But what are the reasons for this departure of so many private collections?
The happy 2000s
Curiously, I start with the Friedrich Christian Flick Collection, which is considered to be of worldwide importance. In 2004 Flick made his collection available to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation on permanent loan. In the Hamburger Bahnhof, the foundations museum for contemporary art, the collection is to find a home in a former railway depot adjacent to the main building. Flick is donating more than 8 million Euro to the conversion, done by the young Berlin-based architectural firm Kuehn Malvezzi. They are building their reputation upon a section of the depot, another part is demolished today, where the studios of Tacita Dean, Thomas Demand and Olafur Eliasson used to be. I still remember the very cool parties on that site. Next door the Hallen am Wasser (halls by the water) and Heidestraße turn into a gallery
centre. Finally, in 2008 Flick donates numerous important works from his collection to the foundation. Everyone is happy. And I am leaving Berlin for Zurich.
In 2020 it turns out that the Rieckhallen property does not belong to the State of Berlin, but to an Austrian public limited company. So does the property of the Hamburger Bahnhof. Which has no rental agreement. The galleries are long gone. Instead, chic but boring investor buildings are lined up along Heidestraße, which is still known as a taxi race track. The real estate company wants to replace the Rieckhallen with profitable buildings. And is not interested to enter into talks. Flick is not amused and will leave Berlin for Zurich next year with the rest of his collection. Which I can understand very well. But who is to blame for this fiasco?
Fabian Knecht, Genitiv (Genitive), 2017, View of the performance
Festival of Future Nows II; Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Berlin
Courtesy the artist and alexander levy
A real estate detective story
If the Hamburger Bahnhof does not belong to Berlin, then why was it converted into an art museum for several million people after reunification? Boris Pofalla has pursued this question in a masterpiece of journalism. In the middle of the 19th century, the terminus station on Invalidenstrasse began operations. In 1906 the Prussian state converted the building into a museum of technology. In 1945 the Soviet occupation zone took over responsibility for the entire Berlin railway operation. The Russian leadership erroneously included the Hamburger Bahnhof as an operating railway, although it has not been owned by the Deutsche Reichsbahn for decades. With the foundation of the GDR, the possessions were transferred to the new state, without clarifying this misconception of ownership. Since the Reichsbahn in West Berlin is only allowed to maintain railway lines, not museums, this last enclave of the German Reich is fenced in, guarded and decayed. Can you follow me so far?
At the beginning of the 1980s, negotiations between West Berlin and the GDR about the sovereignty of railway property in the West took place. The current statutes of the Allies do not permit the sale of Reichsbahn assets. Instead, the negotiation protocol only mentions "status issues untouched". But the railway operations, including the Hamburger Bahnhof, went to West Berlin. In September 1989 the Berlin House of Representatives decided to convert the former Museum of Technology into an art space and committed to spend 100 million German marks on the conversion by the turn of the Millennium. Erich Marx offered his collection on loan. Paul Josef Kleihues won the architectural competition, and in 1996 the "Museum der Gegenwart" opened. Without owning the property. Or a rental contract.
The failure of Berlin politics
But how do the Austrians fit into the picture? When the Wall fell, the GDR Deutsche Reichsbahn merged with the West German Federal Railway to form Deutsche Bahn AG. In the merger, real estate not related to railway operations was outsourced in 1996 but remained with the Federal Railway Assets. In 2001 the Federal Railway Assets founded Vivico Real Estate GmbH, to which the Hamburger Bahnhof belongs. All other properties passed into the ownership of Vivico without any problems; there is only a pre-emptive right of purchase for Hamburger Bahnhof by the State of Berlin. But on 4 July 2003 Berlin just waived this right, under the then Senator of Finance Thilo "Germany abolishes itself" Sarrazin and Mayor Klaus"poor but sexy" Wowereit.
As a result of this non-action Vivico was sold to CA Immo AG for years later. Neither the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation nor Flick knew anything about this right of advance sale. Today, the foundation and the city of Berlin are disgraced. But this is not an isolated incident. This story also shows that politics of the German capital is sometimes characterised by a crude mixture of provincialism, lack of vision and sloppiness. Now the federal government under the leadership of Minister of Culture Monika Grütters is trying to buy back the property. I am curious to see what happens.
Katherina Grosse, It Wasn't Us, 2020
Offline Favourite of the week
Katharina Grosse's work It Wasn't Us, a sovereign spatial experience, is currently on view in the Hamburger Bahnhof. From the large Kleihues Halle at the back of the museum and the still standing Rieckhallen, the artist has created an ingenious installation that you can experience wonderfully. Absolutely worth seeing!
Katherina Grosse
It Wasn't Us
June 14, 2020 - January 10, 2021
Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum for Contemporary Art , Berlin
Be brave, gentle and smart.
Yours,
Florian
