Art to the People - What art brings to urban space!

How does art characterise public space today? The Office for Art in Public Space is discussing this question together with experts and artists. The focus is on the future of art in urban spaces and its role in strengthening our society.

Culture for all! Since the post-war period, this has been a fundamental principle of democratic cultural policy: through participation and art education, prejudices are to be reduced, understanding is promoted, and society is strengthened against authoritarian tendencies. Since the 2000s, art in buildings and urban spaces has experienced a renaissance through temporary and participatory projects. Transparent competitions bring new works to public buildings and urban spaces, bring art into everyday life, and create encounters.

This great importance is counteracted by the current 66 percent cut to budget item 81278, "Artistic Design in Urban Spaces." The 2026/2027 budget allocates only €125,000 annually for this purpose. At the same time, the "Draussenstadt" program, which provided €500,000 for "District Cultural Projects in Urban Spaces" in 2025, is being completely eliminated. This results in a total annual loss of €750,000 for art and culture in public spaces, a significant cut and cultural loss, especially for decentralized urban spaces.

Against this backdrop, the dialogue event asks: Where do art in buildings and art in public spaces stand today? What developments are emerging, and which potential should be more strongly promoted in the future?
The event opens with keynote speeches from experts outlining current developments. Following this, a World Café invites participants to discuss key questions and concrete approaches to action together with artists, the professional public, and cultural policymakers. The goal is to formulate perspectives and demands for the further development of art in buildings and in urban spaces and to strengthen their social impact.

Dialogue Event – ​​Program

5:30 p.m. Welcome:

Annette Maechtel (Management of nGbK)

Birgit Cauer (Spokesperson of bbk berlin)

Intro:

Katinka Theis / Hauke ​​Ziessler (Office for Art in Public Space)

Keynotes

Dorothee Bienert, Neukölln District Office, Department of Culture, Head

Melanie Kühnemann-Grunow, Cultural Policy Spokesperson of the SPD in the Berlin House of Representatives (upcoming)

Daniel Wesener, Spokesperson for Cultural Funding in the Berlin House of Representatives, Alliance 90/The Greens

Office for Art in Public Space, Britta Schubert / Martin Schönfeld

6:00 p.m. World Café: "Art to the People – What Art Brings to Urban Spaces!"

Sven Kalden (Artist, Expert Commission for Art in Public Space, bbk berlin)

María Linares (Artist, Board Member of IGBK)

Stefan Krüskemper (artist, past chair of the Art Advisory Committee)

Katrin Schmidbauer (artist, board member of the German Artists' Association)

Susanne Bosch (artist)

7:00 PM Discussion of the results: Moderated by María Linares

Presentation of the World Café tables

Open discussion with the audience

Formulation of the results and demands

7:30 PM Open end

The event is open to the public.