Kulturforum

Topic

Steeped in history, it is a place of art, culture and science – not to mention architecture, with all its attendant debates. What is it about this “arts magnet” that makes it so special?

The Kulturforum, located next to Potsdamer Platz, might be called the Museumsinsel of modernist architecture. Mies van der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalerie and Hans Scharoun’s icons of modernist architecture are situated here; there is a rich and diverse cluster of some of the SPK’s most important collections; and an incredible range of museums, libraries, and concert halls promise nonstop culture and entertainment. Despite all this, the Kulturforum continues to be seen as a “problem child” among Berlin’s cultural attractions; as a badly built and sterile architectural wasteland; as a negative example of modernist construction. But why? And what can be done to unlock the potential of the Kulturforum? A dossier provides answers.