Farewell statement Lichtenberg Studios 2011-2025
After 237 residents, nine workshops with universities, a booklet series with 83 titles and 19 quarterly brochures since 2020, the Lichtenberg Studios project will come to an end in September 2025. 15 years is an unusually long time for a residency programme. We consider it a remarkable achievement that we have been able to realise artistic interventions in Lichtenberg’s public space for so many years. Intervention Berlin e.V. as the sponsor and I, Uwe Jonas, as the director of the programme, look back with gratitude on a phase that has enabled many artists from all over the world to have a productive and inspiring time.
The strength of Lichtenberg Studios lay in the fact that artists opened up new perspectives on a district that is otherwise rarely the focus of the art world in an informal way. Numerous collaborations not only brought international guests to Berlin, but also enabled Berlin artists to take part in residencies in collaboration and cooperation with the Goethe Institute in Bangalore, the cultural administration in Gibraltar, and local actors in Die or most recently in Sineu. Equally valuable were the lectures, exhibitions, publications and countless encounters – from talks to dinner parties. Not only was art shown there, but community was also experienced and content was discussed.
Now it really is over, which is of course painful and a great loss. But everything is finite, and as I’ve already written, it’s almost a miracle to have lasted this long. Residency projects are always difficult to convey and communicate, as they are largely “hidden”. The residents live and work in the rooms provided and only occasionally appear in public, for example at a lecture or an exhibition. In the case of the Lichtenberg Studios, the focus was also placed on artistic interventions in Lichtenberg’s public sphere. This in turn is a “hidden” art form that thrives on the absence of the authors, who leave their works behind in public.
Despite these activities, which were also intended to make the shortcoming of “inconspicuousness” more bearable for the funder, the district of Lichtenberg, criticism grew louder and louder. This led to the first attempt to end the Lichtenberg Studios project in 2020. It was only thanks to a strong campaign and the support of many stakeholders, including the mayor at the time, that an abrupt end was prevented. But the price was high: the trust between the association and the department remained permanently damaged. Instead of continuous cooperation, this was followed by short contract terms, more complicated application procedures and the same points of criticism over and over again, summarised in the formula: “No one is aware of this.” There was no positive feedback. The atmosphere became increasingly stressful and the organisation’s resilience was exhausted.
Now the department has decided to renovate the rooms we have been using since 2011. We were told to vacate them by 8 September 2025. We have not been told what will happen there after that. This is the end for us. We are not ending Lichtenberg Studios in a dispute, but with clarity and without a fight. We know that we have created something over 15 years that will be remembered – even if it does not appear in the logic of administrative acts.
Our conclusion is therefore twofold: pride in what has been achieved and disillusionment that this success was not recognised as a strength. We bid farewell with gratitude to all those who have accompanied us: the artists, the cooperation partners, the friends, the supporters and the many people we have had the honour of getting to know in Lichtenberg and far beyond.
The Lichtenberg Studios are closing their doors. But the experiences, encounters and artistic traces remain. We say goodbye without bitterness, but also without illusions – and with the realisation that we have lived a form of art and exchange that was unique and that will not come again.
Uwe Jonas, 8 September 2025