Berlin’s long-standing alternative culture scene is coming under growing pressure as rising property prices and urban redevelopment reduce the number of vacant plots and former industrial sites available to artists and independent groups.
For decades, these spaces have provided the physical foundation for Berlin’s DIY and underground culture. But as land becomes more expensive and development accelerates, independent groups are increasingly being forced to move or search for new places to operate.
Zirkus Mond, an alternative circus collective based near Prenzlauer Berg in northeastern Berlin, is one of the latest examples.
The group has to move its tent and operations after the owner of the site it has occupied for eight years decided to reclaim the land.
“We knew this was going to happen, and we found another place,” said Max Mohr, who runs the collective.
The site, known as “die Greife”, has developed over the years into a hub for Berlin’s alternative scene, bringing together Zirkus Mond, Kollage Kollektiv, Jonny Knueppel and Mucha, alongside bars, outdoor clubs and performance spaces.
Elva Lebrun of the Mucha association said the spaces had become part of Berlin’s identity.
“Everything you see here, we built,” she said, pointing to the structures and facilities created by the groups using the site.
But places like die Greife are becoming increasingly difficult to find.
The spaces behind Berlin’s cultural identity
The relationship between Berlin’s alternative culture and its property market has deep historical roots.
Economic and political upheaval shaped the city’s cultural life throughout the 20th century. After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, abandoned warehouses, industrial buildings and vacant plots became available at relatively low cost, giving artists and independent groups access to large spaces.
That period helped establish Berlin’s international reputation as a centre of experimental, raw and independent culture.
Today, however, the economic conditions are very different.
Property prices in Berlin have more than tripled over the past 15 years, while the supply of vacant spaces suitable for cultural projects has shrunk.
The pressure is also increasingly visible in politics. In last month’s state election, the left-wing Die Linke emerged as the strongest party, campaigning on proposals including the expropriation of homes owned by large corporate landlords and tighter rent controls.
For artists and cultural groups, the issue is not limited to the cost of renting a studio or performance space. Rising housing costs are also making it harder for people who were once attracted to Berlin’s relatively affordable and permissive environment to remain in the city.
Juan Migama, a Spanish-born artistic director at Zirkus Mond, said high housing costs were pushing some people away.
At the same time, he argued that Berlin remained “very tolerant and genuinely open-minded”, qualities that continue to attract independent artists and cultural groups.
Migama said the city’s complex bureaucracy could sometimes work in favour of alternative projects, allowing groups to operate in legal grey areas as long as they comply with certain regulations.
A culture built on temporary spaces
The organisation diskoBabel, which operates the die Greife site, has also made use of rules allowing temporary use of land.
The site has no mains water and relies on generators for electricity. Yet it has become a meeting point for people involved in Berlin’s alternative cultural scene.
Such spaces illustrate how much of the city’s DIY culture has been built outside conventional cultural infrastructure.
Their temporary and improvised nature is part of their appeal, but it also leaves them vulnerable to redevelopment and changing ownership.
For Mohr, the disappearance of these spaces does not necessarily mean the end of Berlin’s alternative culture. But maintaining it is becoming much harder.
“If you want this lifestyle, you have to be very determined,” he said, arguing that creating an alternative way of living and making culture requires considerable effort.
Berlin’s alternative scene has survived political upheaval, economic crises and major changes to the city itself. Its latest challenge may be less dramatic but just as consequential: whether a culture built around cheap, temporary and unconventional spaces can survive in a city where those spaces are becoming increasingly valuable.
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