Call for ART! Security with the help of Police has destroyed an art installation in Tacheles!!!

The Art Installation 'Brücke/Ponte/Köprü/Bridge' by Italian artist Angelo Loconte K. and partners in Kunsthaus Tacheles has been destroyed by the security of the investors with the help of police on 9th of August 2011. 

‘BEING CANNOT DIE! 

'IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO DESTROY AN IDEA!’

Today, on 9 August 2011, approximately 50 security guards attacked the Sculpture Park in Kunsthaus Tacheles at around 5 o’clock in the morning. In cooperation with police forces, they have illegally destroyed the art installation by the Italian artist Angelo Loconte and his team without any permission from the court. Three months ago the same security forces built a wall in the middle of Kunsthause Tacheles to cut it off from the public. The art installation ‘Brücke/ Ponte/ Köprü/Bridge’ was an artistic action and an expression of resistance to those who violate the freedom of public space, art, and thought.  As documented by the artists in the photos below, security broke the art installation and stole all the remaining material, worth thousands of Euros.  Speechless and shocked by this brutality, vandalism and destruction, we are greatly disappointed that police forces, instead of protecting our property and rights, helped the illegal intrusion. Beyond the conflict between the artists of Tacheles and private investors, one question arises: Through what injustice does Berlin allow art to be destroyed? 

We hereby declare that we will follow every means to seek our legal rights and to save Tacheles.  Tacheles will stay a free art house!

TACHELES / MANIFEST                                                             Summer 2011

Tacheles, the iconic landmark of Berlin, is threatened with eviction. We, as the artists’ collective of Metallwerkstatt, art lovers, and urbanities hereby declare our stance, determination, and the vision of our collective struggle to preserve the Kunsthaus Tacheles for the world.

The Right to the City

We argue for one of the most valuable yet most neglected of human rights: the freedom to make and remake our cities. The right to the city is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources as it is increasingly falling into the hands of private or quasi-private interests. The rights of city inhabitants over urban spaces are constantly exploited by the capital holders who earn money in the ‘exchange value’ of urban spaces in the capitalist market. We fight for the ‘use value’ of the urban spaces that are appropriated for the collective social uses. The ongoing conflict is part of a process of gentrification in central Berlin, what urban gentrification cause to occur is that wealthier people acquire property in low income and working class communities. To ‘clean’ Tacheles means to get rid of the Zeitgeist- "the spirit of the age"- of Tacheles. Since its inception, Tacheles has been a unique, vivid and inspiring cultural space wherein tens of international artists, musicians, and performers are constantly creating art and has become an attractive destination to visit, explore, experience and enjoy for more than 500.000 people per year. We invite Berliners to reclaim their city and their rights on the use of urban spaces like the Kunsthaus Tacheles.

Fight for the public space

We believe in the power and merit of public space that is open and accessible to all, regardless of gender, class, race, ethnicity, or age. In contrast to the majority of the privatized museums, galleries, and performance halls requiring fees and paid tickets for entrance, Tacheles is a free, open space in the middle of a European capital enriching the public space with the diverse artistic endeavors. We support and fight for the survival of Tacheles as a public space open to all segments of society; from beggars to elite art collectors, from immigrant families to touristic groups, from teenagers to elderly people.

Survival of the Alternative/Free/Independent Forms of Artistic Production

We are against the confinement of art and artistic production to private galleries, institutions, and auctions. Our main goal in Tacheles is to create, produce, circulate and support art for and with the public. We fight for a deeper understanding of public space and a joyful and independent approach to art. Tacheles has functioned for years as an art school wherein many talents have been introduced to the world. The milieu of opportunities and facilities that recently popular artist-in-residence programs are seeking to offer, have already been available in Tacheles free-of-charge since 1990. Every year tens of artists from different parts of the world are coming to create in the international atmosphere of Tacheles.

Tacheles- a 20 years old living monument of Berlin’s urban identity

Kunsthaus Tacheles has become a monument of Berlin and a fixture in every guidebook. Tacheles as a building is itself an art piece. To preserve this art center that represents the historical breaks, markers, and traces of Berlin modernity means to claim our city. As the artists group, we are deeply tied to the ideals of the Zeitgeist of Tacheles which has, for sure, been transformed and is going to be transformed itself under the ever-changing dynamics of neoliberalism. Tacheles is an integral part of Berlin’s urban identity representing the artistic Berlin, the youth culture of Berlin, the cosmopolitan Berlin, the tolerant Berlin, and the inclusive Berlin. We urge Berliners to reclaim Tacheles! Don’t let Tacheles be another one of the thousands shopping malls or hotels. Tacheles lebt!!!

Artist - Graziano Distefano @ Kunsthaus Tacheles

Artist - Graziano Distefano @ Kunsthaus Tacheles from Mark Hunt on Vimeo.

How Long Is Now - A Documentary (Trailer)

How Long Is Now - A Documentary (Trailer) from Mark Hunt on Vimeo.