Curated Projects

Berlinzulage (Berlin Bonus)

Eight percent on top! That was the tax-free allowance that every person working in West Berlin received in addition to their gross salary. Self-employed workers even enjoyed a twenty to twenty-five percent subsidy on investments in buildings and machinery. By handing out subventions, the State tried to contain the ‘natural’ drain of resources and labour from the walled-in city. The aim was to stimulate the front town’s shrinking economy and attract risk-averse capital which dreaded the lethal embrace of the political enemy in the East more than people did.

Did the inflow come from the desired direction? In the tidal waters of retreating capitalism, it was rather the nonconformist characters who were washed ashore. And artists in particular knew how to exploit the empty spaces and freedoms that became visible with the downturn. The Berlin bonus therefore, very aptly describes the situation back then, adding value through subsidies.

The exhibition project Berlinzulage (Berlin Bonus) retraces the artistic strategies and tendencies that were pursued in those days with seemingly playful ease in a market-free space. They led to a substantial broadening of the concept of art, which affected both the places and the people involved, the theory and the practice, the conceptual arena and the underground, and not least the choice of materials. With great incisiveness, artists ventured into their absurd surroundings, opened up new playing fields, conquered wastelands and expanded the concept of public space. This was possible because the players at that time were neither under severe financial pressure nor under excessive expectations to professionalise. A world that may hold some appeal, especially today, after the triumph of globalised capitalism.

Anne Peschken und Marek Pisarsky

>>  SZ Feuilleton vom 28.8. 2018
>> Press review