About
Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien is housed within the historic Bethanien building on Mariannenplatz, a site whose own turbulent history of preservation and reuse mirrors the institution's ongoing commitment to socially engaged contemporary art. The building was constructed in 1847 at the initiative of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, designed by Theodor von Stein as a Deaconess hospital when the site still lay outside the city gates, and it continued to serve as a hospital until 1970. Its closure that year triggered what became known locally as the fight for Bethanien, a sustained campaign of occupation, citizen initiatives and monument preservation efforts that successfully prevented the building's planned demolition and replacement with social housing.
From 1973 and 1974 onward, the main building was given over predominantly to cultural and artistic institutions, among them the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien itself, alongside the printmaking workshop of the BBK Berlin's cultural works and the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg music school. Since 1 May 2009, building management has been carried out by GSE, a nonprofit development company acting as trustee for the state of Berlin, which involves the site's users in tenant councils shaping the building's ongoing development as a center for artistic production and presentation. In the summer of 2010 the complex was given the name Kunstquartier Bethanien, and further creative and performing arts uses, including a studio programme for seventeen artists supported by the state of Berlin, have joined the ensemble in the years since, alongside a project room and studio spaces available for temporary exhibitions and events.
Within this setting, the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien presents group and thematic exhibitions addressing contemporary social and cultural processes in dialogue with the contemporary arts, with particular attention to contextualising each project and to questions of diversity, internationality and local relevance. Its 450 square metre exhibition space, offering more than 220 linear metres of hanging space, accommodates around five to six exhibition projects each year, frequently realised in cooperation with partner institutions, curators or artist groups, and accompanied by guided tours, film screenings, discussions and artist talks. Educational projects, particularly partnerships with local schools, form an integral part of this public facing work.
Since 2002, the institution has been led by Stéphane Bauer, who studied sociology, political science, economics and psychology and has curated extensively across Berlin's Kunstamt and independent art scenes, bringing decades of curatorial continuity to the space. Over its long history the Kunstraum has also built its own collection of around 450 works, including pieces by artists closely tied to the neighbourhood.
As a Kommunale Galerie, the institution's core funding comes from the Bezirksamt Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, supplemented since 2014 by project funds from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, positioning the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien as a publicly anchored, community rooted space for contemporary art within one of Berlin's most historically significant cultural buildings.
