Berlin: The City as Material

About Taste, Inspiration, and Space in a City to Paint Over

Christian Mio Loclair, Nicole Srock.Stanley, Jürgen Mayer H.
Moderated by Kimberly Bradley

Panel (EN)

What shapes Berlin’s identity as an urban space? How did this identity emerge, where does it stand today, and what future potentials lie ahead? After the fall of the Berlin Wall, as old ideological divides faded, the city became what could be seen as raw “material” – a landscape of time, space, empty buildings, and a largely hands-off cultural policy. These conditions offered creative communities unprecedented freedom to shape their own environments, lifestyles, and futures.

Featuring speakers who have engaged with Berlin’s evolving physical and cultural fabric across different post-Wall eras from 1990 until today, this panel explores Berlin as an evolving laboratory. Together, they examine how this experimental spirit has historically shaped neighborhoods, defined creative disciplines, established cultural institutions, and forged a distinct Berlin identity that is still a work in progress. The discussion will above all consider how Berlin might now harness its legacy and current material conditions –  from the iconic ICC to broader urban contexts – to build a more democratic and inclusive future.