51–60 of 76 posts
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Did the prior good Belin culture develop under a economic system other than capitalism?
Yeah I don't agree that this proves something about capitalism but it does indicate that an abundance of cheap housing/buildings makes culture thrive.
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Did the prior good Belin culture develop under a economic system other than capitalism?
Yeah I don't agree that this proves something about capitalism but it does indicate that an abundance of cheap housing/buildings makes culture thrive.
Not on its own, though. Plenty of abandoned/underpopulated cheap places in europe that do not thrive. But it certainly is beneficial.
(in the case of Berlin, there was for example a special effect, that all germans living in west berlin did not had to go to the army (to not having to shoot their relatives in east berlin) - so lots of counterculture people evading the army came to Berlin and they created culture)
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Partial explanation: Gentrification + increased costs because of inflation is my understanding. Berlin has been relatively underpopulated ever since WW2 which seems to have contributed to a de-gentrified situation which allowed an unique culture to grow. But time's are changing. Look at this pop graph: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_population_statistics Still hasn't caught up with the peak in the 1930:s.
>a de-gentrified situation What does this even mean? Does this mean "low cost of living"? I feel like gentrification due to post-war generational housing shortages is now just a catch all term for increasing cost of living in general.
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Partial explanation: Gentrification + increased costs because of inflation is my understanding. Berlin has been relatively underpopulated ever since WW2 which seems to have contributed to a de-gentrified situation which allowed an unique culture to grow. But time's are changing. Look at this pop graph: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_population_statistics Still hasn't caught up with the peak in the 1930:s.
Berlin is the best proof that capitalism destroys culture. We should probably find a way to prevent that from happening. The current German and Berlin government would rather accelerate it though - besides the funding thing, they're currently ramming a highway expansion straight through a cultural area. To answer the question in replies, good East Berlin developed in the relative anarchy when the Soviet Union collaps…
Sad to hear. Berlin is a modern typography hub, the influence Spiekermann has in the DACH region and maybe even beyond is hard to overestimate. Apart from that if you come to Berlin and you are the kind of person that would have liked the Buchstabenmuseum you should try to get an opportunity to visit the crashed space station. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-base
The Museum Der Dinge is also worth a visit: https://museumderdinge.org/
Why do they need a museum dedicated to back stabbing?
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> a deeply non-capitalist perspective This seems to have been said as if it is a bad thing. Is it, or did I misread what you meant?
Well if you are very against capitalism, that would be pretty bad, but ONLY if you are then also a hypocrite working for amounts of money that would make anyone not in the top 20 percent of the world population's eyes pop; Deduct extra points if you ever accepted stock options, ever tried to start a startup or did a side hustle because you wanted MORE than the bare minimum you need to survive. (Like those capitalist…
As for why they are closing: > Fixed costs and a lack of financial support are forcing us to take this step. In addition, the general cultural situation in Berlin is very precarious. It was a very difficult decision for us. Via Deepl, original here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLuAW5DIANV/
> cultural situation in Berlin is very precarious Can someone please elaborate this for someone who is absolutely clueless about Berlin?
Sister comments get excited about population growth, gentrification, rising rent prices, and everyone's favorite c-word. Those are all real things that are happening in berlin, that are favorite bogeymen to complain about at parties. None of them apply here.
Rising rents are much more of a residential problem. Prime commercial rents are also rising, but at 1.1%/yr... and non-prime/specialty commercial like the subway arches in Hansaviertel are generally stable or declining since COVID.
The museum cites loss of premises as a factor. The Deutsche bahn leases the subway arches typically on 5 or 10 year terms. Since they moved in 2016 it sounds like DB is declining to renew the contract and they are facing another move.
But the really big elephant in the room is a lack of funding. The museum has always been proudly privately funded and volunteer operated. But that still exposes them to indirect effects from public funding cuts, and berlin cut 13% of its culture funding in 2024. Private donations are down 6% year over year, and what there is has seen significant diversion to political and Ukraine support efforts. Similar impacts happen in volunteer time, but we're all waiting on the 5-yearly survey from 2024 to be released to get real data.
Fixed costs are often the killer for museums, and the buchstaben museum blamed these in particular. Heating and electricity, and general climate maintenance in nonstandard spaces like the subway arches is always expensive, and museums are relatively energy intensive to begin with. Wholesale electricity costs jumped 5-7x in 2021-22. They've since come back down to a more modest 30-40% increase, but that's still a huge problem for a small, privately funded institution like this. Especially coupled with public funding loss, reduced private donations, and staring down a move.
Bear in mind, German non profits can't create endowments like American ones can. Most categories can't even roll budget from one year to the next!
Hope this helps you understand why so many privately funded cultural institutions are dying in Germany and Berlin right now.
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> cultural situation in Berlin is very precarious Can someone please elaborate this for someone who is absolutely clueless about Berlin?
Speaking as someone with a company in the arts based in berlin: Sister comments get excited about population growth, gentrification, rising rent prices, and everyone's favorite c-word. Those are all real things that are happening in berlin, that are favorite bogeymen to complain about at parties. None of them apply here. Rising rents are much more of a residential problem. Prime commercial rents are also rising, but…
Probably the money gambled away on slop AI startups in a single week could sustain thousands of museums like this for decades
Nobody is going to make money on museums. As such, you either provide for them through tax dollars or you convince people to donate.