A House and it’s History

Haus Kunst Mitte was built in 1870. Unharmed it stood as one of the only remnants in a landscape of ruins from World War II. For decades the Heidestraße (Heide Street) - the location of Haus Kunst Mitte - was in the "no man's land" between East and West. A stone's throw away from the former Berlin Wall with its death strip, the house is a vessel of Berlin’s history. With its 120 windows, the house is flooded with light and stands on solid masonry. In its basement, there are still the old ovens of a former bakery and an air-raid shelter from World War II. Many fixtures bear witness to the fact that the house was used as a dwelling for East German resettlers and was home to 120 people until the 1980s. 

Even after the reunification of Germany, when Heidestraße found itself in the middle of Berlin, it was denounced as a "wasteland". Between 2008 and 2012, the art scene conquered the area. Studios were created and galleries populated the commercial courtyards on Heidestraße and, a little later, the “Halle am Wasser” (Hall at the Water). Olafur Eliasson, Thomas Demand, and Tacita Dean had their studios here, and the legendary Tape Club was the place to party into the early hours. For a few years, art lovers moved through the galleries for exhibition openings. 

Then the master plan for the most interesting inner-city area of Berlin was developed. The construction cranes and investors drove the artists away, and the galleries closed their doors. Now, almost ten years later, the consequences are drastic. None of the originally planned three to four residential studios per construction phase was realized. The Rieckhallen, which houses the Flick art collection and stands at the beginning of Heidestraße, are to be demolished. The collector is leaving the city in disappointment. 

However, one art venue has survived the transformation of the wasteland into the Europacity, which covers more than 85,000 square meters and is located between Humboldthafen and Nordhafen: Haus Kunst Mitte.  Today, Haus Kunst Mitte is located in the immediate vicinity of the city’s main train station and right in the political and cultural center of Berlin. 

Since 2008, the Asyl der Kunst Foundation - founded by the poet Elisabeth Bartling and the painter Manfred Bartling - has been based in Haus Kunst Mitte. It has offered a home to contemporary artists for more than 10 years. Artists and artist associations can use the house as a place to work and unfold.