2023-09-14 13:40:56
The director is standing in the almost finished museum. He wears a white T-shirt and Dr. Martens. He has a tattoo on the back of his right hand, half of which is covered by the sleeve of his blazer. The rear end of a beetle can be seen; impossible to hide it in business. But a modern museum director and managing director like Yousef Hammoudah doesn’t have to do that either.
“It’s a scarab,” he says. “In Egyptian mythology, he represents Ra, the god of the rising sun. The beetles lay their eggs in a ball of dung so that new life can emerge. This metaphor means a lot to me because it represents how challenges can be turned into opportunities.” However, the scarab is also a symbol of resurrection. And even if the director’s tattoo was created almost ten years ago for private reasons, it couldn’t be more fitting for his new museum. It is located in a house that was almost demolished in the GDR and now shines in new splendor, albeit with many scars: the former Tacheles on Oranienburger Strasse in Mitte.
Advertisement | Scroll to continue reading
Bombs, fires, wrecking balls
Hammoudah knows the history of the Tacheles inside and out. He can answer any question about the building. Although the former department store was damaged in the war, an artists’ school, a dog salon, the NVA and the FDGB moved in during the GDR era. But that wasn’t to last, as the wrecking ball soon hovered over the damaged walls, leveling them piece by piece. But we weren’t able to do that completely before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1990 the house was occupied and saved by the artists working there and the monument protection office. The rest is Berlin history. And the new tenant wants to preserve that. It’s called Fotografiska and is a museum for photography, art and culture founded in Stockholm in 2010. The team at the Berlin branch has been renovating for four years.
The cinema hall with a historical ceiling. The old was carefully paired with the new.HEJM photo
The patched ruin with the sky-high archway still seems mysterious, even if the once dark corners are now illuminated by perfectly placed beams of light and the once musty smell has given way to the scent of new materials. The brokenness of the building is inscribed solely through the monument protection. A lot of things were not allowed to be touched, the stairwell is still full of graffiti, many walls were left unplastered. Nevertheless, the restoration has given the old Tacheles a great deal of glamor, which is somewhat reminiscent of the times when it was built over a hundred years ago: the Grandmuseum Fotografiska, respectfully renovated, renewed in the right places, left historically reminiscent in others.
A grand museum for the middle
This creates a new location for the Mitte district that is much more than just an exhibition space. There’s a bakery on the ground floor that sells tarts that look like something out of a Wes Anderson movie. To the right of the archway there is a spacious coffee house, which the designer Werner Aisslinger has created with round shapes and elegant colors to create a magical place with Italian flair. You should come here soon, especially between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., because then there is aperitivo. In other words: drinks with free appetizers.
Well-rounded: The café on the ground floor has lots of nice curves. It was designed by Werner Aisslinger.Patrica Parinejad
The museum shop is set up on the renovated tiled floor of the former underground bar Zapata and offers niche perfumes, skateboards, vases as well as books and posters. The range focuses on small editions, some by Berlin artists, explains Hammoudah.
The cinema and exhibition rooms are located on the middle floors. In addition to Stockholm and Berlin, Fotografiska has branches in New York and Tallinn. The changing art shows rotate through the houses, says curator Marina Paulenka. However, they do not have their own collection. On the three floors you can see mainly photography, but paintings and video installations are also on display. There will also be workshops, panels and parties.
Looks like it used to: The graffiti in the stairwell wasn’t painted over. Benjamin Pritzkuleit
Because it is a private museum, you have to generate appropriate income, says Yoram Roth. The chairman of the Fotografiska Group is not a Swede or an American, but a native of Charlottenburg. “We are ultimately an independent museum,” he says with a slight Berlin accent. Roth seems liberated. He started negotiating the rental agreement six years ago. Now it’s done, Fotografiska is finally available in his hometown.
Cocktails on the roof
The top floor of the museum can be reached either on foot through the famous staircase or with the newly installed elevator. There is a restaurant and a rooftop bar from which you can look over the rooftops of Mitte. The rooms were designed by Herzog & de Meuron. On this floor at the latest it becomes clear that this place is a blessing for the area around the Oranienburger Tor. To find a rooftop bar you had to drive quite a distance from here. It’s a shame that it’s not finished yet and won’t open until the end of the year.
A lot of things are still being planned here, says Hammoudah, and the scarab on the back of his hand shimmers blue-green. They already have an appointment with the Tacheles community from back then; they want to enter into dialogue with the artists. Fotografiska has not only brought the building back to life, but also stands as a metaphor for Berlin as a whole, where art has become more professional. And perhaps the former occupiers will soon benefit from it too.
Fotografiska Berlin is located at Oranienburger Straße 54, 10117 Berlin-Mitte. The house is open daily from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Further information and prices can be found on the Website des Museums.
#Photographic #Berlin #Das #Tattoo #des #Direktors