Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien

Contact Data

Address: Mariannenplatz 2
ZIP, City: 10997 Berlin
Country: Germany

Fax: +49-30-90298-1453
Phone: +49-90298-1454
Phone: +49-30-90298-1455

Museumsportal Berlin: http://www.museumsportal-berlin.de/museen/museum-details/kunstraum-kreuzbergbethanien.html
Web: http://www.kunstraumkreuzberg.de

Description

Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien serves to the presentation of visual arts, mainly in group exhibitions, and the presentation of theme exhibitions on cultural and social present processes in debate with contemporary art and contemporary approaches.
Each year, about six exhibition projects get realized; some of them with other, also international institutions. The exhibitions get accompanied by guided tours, films, discussions, and talks with the artists. Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien is an institution run by the municipal Kulturamt Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
Bethanien was built in 1847, commissioned by Frederick William IV., among plans of Theodor Stein, student of Schinkel, as the Central Deaconesses´ Home and Hospital. At that time, it was outside the town´s gates. After the shut down of the hospital in 1970, a vehement "Battle for Bethanien" started: The planned large-scale demolition and a building with subsidised housing was prevented by squatters, citizens´ action committees, and preservationists. Since then, at the main building, there are mainly cultural and artistic institutions: Besides Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, the Künstlerhaus Bethanien GmbH, the print workshop of the Berufsverband Bildender Künstler Berlins, and the music school Musikschule Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.