The Studiobühne is a community event location on the second floor of the Kulturhaus. Its premises offer great performance and presentation opportunities for various guest performers such as local artists, clubs and organizations supporting inclusion.
What’s being performed?
Productions vary widely, from cabaret to dance and from readings to concerts. Adults and teenagers find their place here, and kindergardens and schools are invited as well for puppet shows, fairy-tale plays, and children’s song sing-alongs on the stage of the Studiobühne.
Facility and Equipment
The spacious show room can host an audience of up to 100 people. Seating can be placed in rows or assembled as chair and table combinations. The stage measures 6 x 4 m and includes professional sound and light equipment. Artists also find a furnished backstage area.
The path to the lift of the building is barrier-free, which makes the Studiobühne accessible for everybody.
Additional Service
The Studiobühne is also suitable for seminars and conventions. We can provide a beamer and a flipchart for rent. A bar in the show room is run by our partner restaurant Alpenwirt.
We support
As a communal cultural institution, we offer support with the application process for project funding for performances in our venue or the district.
Furthermore we organize integration projects for refugees, which take place in the Studiobühne.
The Projektraum is located on the ground floor of the old firehouse (Alte Feuerwache). With an interior area of 145 m² and the height of 4,50 m it offers various exhibition possibilities. Arched windows facing south-west and large windows which separate the presentation area from the hallway enable a view into the gallery from two sides.
What’s being shown?
The range of exhibitions is wide: visual arts, photography, multimedia and exhibits focusing especially on socio-cultural topics. A special focus lies on presenting works of Berliner artists and artists from the district. Since 2004 the yearly exhibition von mir aus presents works of artists based in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
Solo and group photography exhibitions have also proven to be successful: Since 2012 the Projektraum has taken part in the European Month of Photography (EMOP). The Photocentrum am Wassertor of the Volkshochschule Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg exhibits student work regularly. And exhibitions produced in workshops with local artists and secondary schools, such as the Jugendkunstschule FRI – X BERG since 2020, bring together various topics and generations.
The Projektraum also holds exhibitions and projects focusing on social-cultural topics and cultural education.
All exhibitions are combined with an accompanying program of artist talks, workshops, readings, concerts, screenings, speeches or performances.
Architectual Distinctivness
The classic white gallery walls in the Projektraum are accented by brick walls, round arches and columns in the interior space. These architectural features date back to the original use of the room as a fire truck garage. Professional technical exhibition equipment (hanging systems, mobile partition screens, light installation etc.) make impressive forms of presentation possible.
Historical Background
The Projektraum was opened in 2003, and previously served as the location of Friedrichshains history museum (now FHXB-Museum) and the communal art rental (now Pablo-Neruda Library).
The Kulturhaus Alte Feuerwache is a facility of the district office Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, department of Culture and History. In 1884 the building was constructed as a fire station. From 1995-1998 the heritage-protected site was renovated and converted into the Kulturhaus which opened in September 1998. Changes in the cultural use of the building have been ongoing ever since.
Today the Projektraum, the Studiobühne and a youth club offer a diverse program for people of all ages that are interested in art and culture.
The Projektraum on the ground floor hosts temporary exhibitions with fine arts, photography and socio-cultural topics. Artists and other cooperation partners there have the possibility to present their projects publicly. The exhibitions reflect the artistic activities in the district Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and greater Berlin. Ms. Ottersberg is responsible for planning and organizing the program.
The Studiobühne is a communal event location for guest performers on the second floor of the Kulturhaus. Friedrichshainer and Berliner like to visit the various shows and presentations, and spectators attend from all age-groups, starting from kids at age 3 to teens, adults and seniors. Artists, actors and institutional players find a professional performance and presentation facility with good sound and light equipment. Ms. Jarosch, art director of the Kulturhaus, acts as an intermediary between artists, cultural clubs and educational institutions. Since 2018 she has initiated integration projects for people that had to escape their home countries. Situated on the first floor, accessible through the left entrance of the Kulturhaus, is the youth club Jugendclub Alte Feuerwache. Kids starting at the age of 12 there have the chance to take part in a varied program. The district office Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, department of youth, family and sports, is the provider of this communal youth insitution. More information about the youth club here.
In 1884 the Alte Feuerwache was opened as fire station “Memel” in the former Memeler Street 39. The architecture of the ground floor, with its brick walls, arched windows and columns, is reminiscent of the facility’s former modernity. The fire station was renamed “Weberwiese” in 1945, and Memeler Street was renamed Marchlewskistreet in 1950.
The fire station also functioned as the public office building for the 52nd police station and was the site of Berlin’s professional fire service with accommodation and depot for mobile hand pressure syringes, mechanical ladder carts, and water tenders.
Three floors, five gates, brick facing, and terracotta reliefs in the style of the neo-renaissance: this building was one of eight fire stations that Hermann Blankenstein, the head of Berlins municipal planning and building control office, was responsible for. (1)
In 1945 at the end of World War 2 the building caught fire due to incendiary bombs. The destruction spared only the ground floor. (1) In 1946 an emergency roof was installed, and the building was used as fire station “Weberwiese” from 1948-1955. (2)
The station “Weberwiese” was shut down in 1955 after the new fire station Friedrichshain was inaugurated on Rüdersdorfer Street 56 on August 1st. Afterwards the socially-owned enterprise “Edelholzbau Berlin” used the building as a storage area and veneer workshop. The company was based in Frucht Street 39 (today Straße der Pariser Kommune) which later became the site of the “VEB Inneneinrichtungskombinat intercor Berlin”, a socially-owned interior design corporation. (2)
From 1995-1998 the building was converted into the Kulturhaus by the architects Wörle & Partner (Munich). The preserved ground floor with its characteristic brick walls and arched gates was restored and two new floors were added with bright large tiles as wall cladding. A barrel-vaulted roof completed the renovation.
On 5th September 1998 the Kulturhaus Friedrichshain was officially opened.
Sources: (1) wikipedia.org: alte Feuerwache (Friedrichshain) (2) Fritz Wollenberg, Manuskript zur Geschichte der alten Feuerwache Friedrichshain