The different kinds of use that can be found on the Prinzenstraße in Kreuzberg demonstrate that coffee, education and art go together well: around 60 years ago the aroma of roasting coffee beans wafted through the neighbourhood when the Bremen-based Jacobs merchant family opened up a production and finishing plant for their products in Berlin. When the roasting plant moved to Neukölln at the beginning of the 19880s, the Berlin training and consulting centre for career and employment (BBZ) moved into the building. All that’s missing is art: while the creative hub PANDION THE GRID has been under construction next door since 2019, we have created space for temporary use in five former transformer stations in the BBZ passage.

The cabins, between 8 and 16.5 m² in size, are ideal for galleries and pop-up galleries. They can be closed off with the original steel and lattice doors that guarantee an element of surprise when opened. But you’ll have to bring your own coffee.

The neighbourhood, consisting of the Aufbau Haus, night clubs, family centres, traditional businesses and start-ups, is both a source of inspiration and an audience to which the future urban creative ideas can be presented. If you’re interested or have some ideas of your own, take a look at the online platform of the Transiträume initiative and get in contact with us.

Try something new, based loosely on the motto “Just paint it, just build it, just present it.” Transform the walls with paintings or illuminations? Hang an installation from the ceiling or set up a sculpture? Present your self-made designer clothing or products? Create a musical experience or organise a reading? People in Berlin love a surprise and variety. We entrust the rooms to you for a temporary and non-commercial use free of charge. Ideas for commercial concepts are possible on request.

THE GRID CABINS are for anyone who wants to try something out on their own with a single gallery or several galleries, or in cooperation with other artists. Who want to see how and if their ideas come across. Who are still too small to rent space in a prime location, who are simply not (yet) ready to take the financial plunge with a large property, corresponding overheads and a long lease. A brilliant idea that like so many creative stimuli in these days originated in Berlin – where else. The capital of creative minds.

The construction fence represents the demarcation line between what is and what will be. At PANDION OFFICEHOME The Grid at Prinzenstraße 34 in Berlin, the fence was also an exhibition space from September to November 2021. Furthermore, a 170-square-metre wall banner right next to the construction project also featured the portrait of construction management assistant Zeynep K.
As part of the campaign, film producer Janine Baumeister put the spotlight on the many workers on the capital’s construction sites. The latest project of the artistic interim use supported by PANDION was a homage to the people who change the city so significantly. A QR code on the large-format pictures led people passing by to a website on which the people depicted were introduced with small videos. In spring 2022, the project will be visible with new portraits on further PANDION construction fences in German city centres.

Further information on the project: https://augenaufbeton.berlin

For their project "Zur Kenntnis genommen", St. & St. (Stephanie Gerner and Stephan Halter) launched an open call via e-mails and social media, inviting artists and project space operators worldwide to share their most urgent concerns in the pandemic period in digital form in DIN A4 format.

The works were noted by St. & St. in a performative video and can be seen in the exhibition from 22 September to 2 October 2021.

In addition to the premiere of the video and an exhibition of the submissions, PANDION THE GRID CABINS will feature two spatial installations by St. & St. thematically linked to the title. The opening will also feature a live performance by Berlin artist Lan Hungh.

The "disPlay-Moiré Lab” is the guest in PANDION’s THE GRID CABINS during the BERLIN DESIGN WEEK. 14 visual experiences of generative moiré designs will be on show in the 5 cabins that have been converted into gallery spaces on the 4th of June 2021. Disturbance and interference are creative means to produce the new and the known, the intentional and unintentional, the inspiring and disconcerting, the conscious and unconscious. Felix Bamforth, Frederick Fla, Rosa Lotta Gehlich, Dorian Hehn, Lukas Ruoff, Niklas Schneeberger, Paul Sturm and Aliza Held, who are all students of the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (HTW), will be exhibiting their work in PANDION THE GRID CABINS.

Every year, BERLIN DESIGN WEEK presents new approaches to ideas and designs that should anticipate and shape our future. Design is hereby understood as a response to social and ecological change, thus underscoring its essential role in tackling the biggest challenges of our time. Business, research and decision-makers need the creative force of design, its fresh ideas, new strategies and concepts for a society that is undergoing change, and vice versa.

Berlin has always been a testing ground on which not only existing trends but also revolutionary ideas, trends and innovations emerge and are discussed. The BERLIN DESIGN WEEK is an international podium on which scientific progress and ethical responsibility are allowed to flow into tomorrow’s design.

In this context, the BERLIN DESIGN WEEK discusses smart cities, digitization and artificial intelligence, new materials and concepts. Intergenerational justice, social justice, health and well-being, environmental protection have always been focal points. As a place for new opportunities, for try-outs and the interweaving of various areas and forms of expression, the BERLIN DESIGN WEEK energizes the entire city for eleven days and becomes a shop window for a professional audience from the fields of design, business and research, though also students and design aficionados.

The fashion designer Wilfried Pletzinger as well as the photographer and artist Les BeauX will be presenting the fashion and photo exhibition “Aparted Hansestories – architecture and fashion” on the topic of Bauhaus architecture and fashion in three show cases between 1 and 20 May 2021. The photos make reference to the Hansaviertel in the eastern part of Berlin-Mitte, which was built for the International Building Exhibition Interbau in 1957 as a demonstration of modern town planning and architecture at that time, classic modernist or post-war modernist. Individual items from the Pletzinger collection will also be on show to match the photos. Some of these items are the result of upcycling, in other words are redesigned from pieces of existing clothing or from new materials Pletzinger’s collections are characterised by a conceptional and futuristic design that is inspired by modern architecture and pop culture. His couture is worn by a young generation and international Berlin artists, DJs and actors and are presented by musicians on stage. The exhibition can be viewed from the outside on Fridays and Saturdays. Please send an email to berlin@pandion.de to arrange an individual appointment with Wilfried Pletzinger or if you have a general interest in the exhibition.

Find out more about the fashion designer Wilfried Pletzinger and what “tecnoganic” means here.

How did you get started in fashion?
I grew up in the countryside in NRW, and didn’t even dream about becoming anything like a fashion designer. Although I have dressed very consciously since I was a child, and have been sewing since then too, I only got the idea of becoming a fashion designer when I moved to Berlin after my A levels and after an aunt of mine gave me a sewing machine.

How long have you been designing clothes?
I was making clothes for my sister’s dolls even before I started school. Soon afterwards I started sewing on my mother’s treadle sewing machine. I patched up my torn jeans as a teenager and either flared them out or sewed them in at the bottom depending on the latest fashion. I began studying as a vet in Berlin, but then started sewing complete items of clothing for myself after I had been given the aforementioned sewing machine. It then seemed natural to give up my studies and complete an apprenticeship as a fashion designer.

Your designs look very futuristic. Who or what influenced you most in this direction?
I don’t really know, perhaps it’s just part of my DNA. I imagine the people who wear my clothes to be very dynamic, sporty and active. I always try to make sure that everything I make is very comfortable to wear. I am inspired by human anatomy. I call it “tecnoganic”. And then there are the science fiction movies that inspire me too. It’s fascinating how certain elements of shapes and design that are considered futuristic keep cropping up, no matter if these are in films from the 1960s or from today.

Why did you have photos taken of your models in front of buildings in Berlin’s Hansaviertel?
My last collection is quite clean and puristic compared to my previous collections It has a very clear and simple stylistic idiom. This fits in perfectly with the functional and timeless Bauhaus architecture. The idea to take the photos in the Hansaviertel came from the photographer LeS BeauX. I loved it right from the start because I had wanted to do something there for a long time and the Hansaviertel is one of Berlin’s most exciting areas architecturally speaking.

Is each item of clothing you design a one-off?
Yes, in principle. They are very few identical pieces that I have made several times. Even if I produce several items from the same pattern the materials or prints vary. It just bores me to keep on reproducing the same old piece of clothing.

Who wears your fashion?
It’s mainly individualists who are looking for something extravagant, like musicians, DJs, people from creative professions and tourists. Most of the tourists come from the USA and Great Britain.

You had a store on the Reinhardtstraße in Berlin-Mitte for quite a long time and are now in search of a new store. I you could choose anything, where would it be and what would it look like?
Up to now I had a store in which I produced the clothing too. Now I’d prefer a studio where I could sell things too. Of course, this could be a store too, as long as it’s within my financial reach. I don’t want to be bound so much by certain opening hours in future And I would really like to work with other creative people around me. This could either be one large shared area or people working in neighbouring rooms. I think it would be exciting to swap ideas and network with like-minded people.

The five PANDION THE GRID CABINS show cases are located in a district whose street names sound very majestic. But where did the names such as Ritterstraße, Prinzenstraße and Moritzplatz come from? Who are they named after and why? Jonas Liesaus and Louis Wuttke, two students of the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig, embarked on a journey to find out more about the history of the cabins after their first visit and to try and uncover some biographical data about the names behind the local places. It soon became clear that tapestries were very popular in the eras in which the people after whom the streets and squares were named lived. This technique inspired Jonas Liesaus and Louis Wuttke to their very own interpretation of tapestries.

Take a virtual tour of the Column exhibition by Jonas Liesaus and Louis Wuttke in PANDION THE GRID CABINS here.

Jonas Liesaus and Louis Wuttke

"Column" exhibition

What inspires the young artists and what spurs them on? If you’re curious to find out more.

Where does your inspiration come from?

JL: I like to discover things, either in the immediate vicinity such as architecture and nature, but also in literature, museums, galleries and in communication with fellow students.
LW: I try to engage with my surroundings and the people around me in daily life by constantly observing things. I memorise things that I am fascinated by, both aesthetically and content wise, to get a clearer idea of what I want to achieve in my work.

Reach for the stars: where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

JL: I will have completed my diploma in five years’ time and will be a freelance artist. I would also like a career in a university context.
LW: I will have completed my studies by then and hope to be working as an independent artist. I’ll worry about a job as an assistant at a university when the time comes.

Is there a work of art in your life that has made a particular impression on you?

JL: I have particularly vivid memories of the Rothko Room in the Tate Modern. I like to think back on the meditative effect of the individual pictures that developed a very special presence and effect as a whole.
LW: Coming from Dresden as I do, I am very familiar with the Dresden art collection in the Albertinum. The picture “Buchenwald I” by Gustav Klimt has always had a big impact on me. I am still fascinated by the very modern composition and colours that were untypical of that age

Roberto Uribe-Castro, who himself has been living and working in the district for many years, was the first artist to be given the opportunity to put the former transformer stations to temporary cultural use with his exhibition “Mein Kiez, mein Atelier” in September 2020. The exhibition was planned as an open-air experience: the rooms could be viewed from the outside but not entered. Through his installation, most of which are made from materials gathered from public areas, Uribe-Castro captured those forces and relationships that have shaped the neighbourhood in terms of both its physical presence as well as its social, political and economic character. So it seemed right to exhibit in the heart of the neighbourhood, directly at a place of transformation.

Topography I

Topography II

Between Heaven and Earth

The local history background to Uribe-Castro’s work in the cabins says a lot about the Wassertor neighbourhood and how someone whose work repeatedly takes them away from Berlin sees it on their return, and about what has changed in the meantime. The artist tells us just what this is in this interview.

You have been living and working in the Wassertor neighbourhood near the Moritzplatz now for over ten years. How has the neighbourhood changed over the past decade in your own personal opinion as both a resident and as an artist?

RUC: I would describe the change in this part of Berlin as a slow but steady one. Compared to other parts of Kreuzberg, the changes in this neighbourhood have been slower. The 1960s architecture, which isn’t very popular amongst people in search of a house, has meant that a large part of the population lives here. My neighbours have pretty much remained the same, even if some of the more recent neighbours attract a different kind of person. This has made the neighbourhood even more diverse and multicultural.

How did you come to hear about PANDION THE GRID CABINS?

RUC: I got to know the managing director during the “Long night of the books” in the Gebrüder Geißler factory opposite the cabins. They told me about PANDION and the possibility of a temporary cultural use, sent me the contact details which then led to an exchange of ideas with Eva Nieuweboer from PANDION. I was allowed to visit the former transformer stations, PANDION THE GRID CABINS, and Eva then showed me the fantastic vaults, the Böhmische Brauhaus, which also belonged to PANDION and was also under consideration for a temporary use. In the end, I decided to submit a suggestion for the CABINS. This consisted of five works from various periods over the past ten years in which I had been living in the neighbourhood, and where I still live today.

The first of the cabins on the far left contains a large green wooden panel. There’s a special story behind this that you told the employees of PANDION’s Berlin branch office during a private guided tour. Could you repeat it here for all those who were unable to attend?

RUC: This work is called “Ghost Station” and is an exact copy of a billboard at the Moritzplatz U-Bahn station. I first noticed this billboard, which has never held a poster, when I moved to the area. Because of this empty billboard, I started to investigate the history of this station, which is closely linked to the so-called “ghost stations”. These are underground stations on the no. 8 U-Bahn line, including the Moritzplatz U-Bahn station, that were closed to the public during the Cold War years. During my research I also learned about the existence of a second station beneath the U8 line. This station was built for a parallel S-Bahn network that was never completed. Another strange thing about this station is that is has a direct exit to today’s Prinzessinnengarten.

You mixed some green glass nuggets amongst the cobblestones for the cabin entitled “Topography I”. And for “Topography II” you hung up individual white bottles on strings. Tell us a little about the background to these two works.

RUC: In his “Arcades Project”; Walter Benjamin talks about the emergence of modernism through the appearance of passages in Paris. One of his most memorable phrases in this book is: “To live means to leave traces.” The works “Topography I” and “Topography II” refer to precisely this idea. “Topography I” consists of cobblestones made from bottles that I collected from the area around my house and had melted down into glass stones at very high temperatures. Each morning, you can usually find a number of empty “individual” booze bottles on the streets of the Wassertor neighbourhood. These bottles bear witness to what has gone on the night before. A lot of pubs and bars have disappeared from the Wassertor neighbourhood over the years and I wanted bring this part of the district’s recent history back into the public eye as a piece of ‘false’ archaeology. “Topography II”, even though it has the same basic ideas as “Topography I”, is a ‘lamp’ whose effect on the floor is made up of the rest of the projected bottles.

You have wallpapered one of the cabins in the middle with black and white photos. What was that all about?

RUC: “Between Heaven & Earth” is my latest work from 2020. It’s a series of photos of feathers that I found on the streets and parks in the neighbourhood. The photos are on a scale of 1:1 and arranged as a tapestry. In the tradition of the indigenous people of South and North America, feathers are thought to be messages that come directly from heaven. I question our relationship with the environment in this work. People often think that nature is what exists in far-off forests and exotic jungles. But nature is very close to home. This work is aimed at bringing it inside a building to turn it into a kind of skin in the room.

The room on the far right contains barrier tapes. What is so fascinating for you about these red and white tapes?

RUC: “Landmark” is a work that I have realised in a number of different rooms since 2016. “Landmark” operates on the threshold between the physical plane in the rooms and the thematic and conceptional plane. The red and white barrier tape you can see wherever men are at work looks like a warning code that marks out, describes and confines one particular place in a very simple but effective way This work extends the idea of the threshold not just as this connecting space but also as something temporary. The period over which this work was exhibited also makes reference to the physical and less public changes to a place or building.

More information about the artist Roberto Uribe-Castro can be found here: http://www.robertouribecastro.de