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Kaskelkiez in the district Lichtenberg
Kaskelkiez in the district Lichtenberg © visitBerlin, Foto: Arthur F. Selbach

The Lichtenberg art scene

creative - not Berlin Mitte

Artists are drawn to Lichtenberg - and not just recently. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe already worked in the district and designed the Haus Lemke on Obersee. Today, exhibitions of modern artists are presented in the building. Galleries and private collections are just as much at home between the Spree and Falkenberg as alternative life concepts and artists.

Mies van der Rohe Haus

Lemke House – Mies van der Rohe Haus
Lemke House – Mies van der Rohe Haus © Bezirksamt Lichtenberg

Haus Lemke, designed in 1932 by Mies van der Rohe, is an impressive example of Bauhaus architecture. Today it is an internationally renowned architectural monument and exhibition building for modern art.

Galleries in Lichtenberg

In no other Berlin district are there as many municipal galleries as in Lichtenberg. These include the Mies van der Rohe Haus, the gallery in the Kulturhaus Karlshorst, the rk-Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst in the Ratskeller, the Galerie 100 and the studio im HOCHHAUS.

Many small independent galleries have settled in the Lichtenberger Kaskelkiez. After the butcher uses the rooms of a former butcher's shop for contemporary art and social issues. The gallery exhibits contemporary textile art in Viktoriastadt. Artists and collectors in free galleries and project spaces around the Kiez also dedicate themselves to painting, photography or installation, for example in the Studio Bildende Kunst or in the GISELA - Freier Kunstraum Lichtenberg.

Alternative art in historic places

Lichtenberg
© visitBerlin, Foto:Wolfgang Scholvien

Lichtenberg does not only offer a lot of space to show art. Art is also made here! A former railway depot, a margarine factory from 1909 or former restricted areas from GDR times - historical places are newly used by artists.
The BLO studios are located in Kaskelstraße at the Nöldnerplatz S-Bahn station. Artists and craftsmen have been working at the former railway depot since 2003. You can visit the site for the annual open day, regular concerts and exhibitions.
The Heikonauten studios are even more hidden. Designers, photographers, artists and authors have been working here since 2005. In the Herzbergstraße - a centre of Lichtenberg's industrial history - you will find the Fahrbereitschaft / Sammlung Haubrok. What began in 1901 as a spirit factory, which was in the meantime the car pool of the GDR Council of Ministers, is today a workshop for artists and creative people on 18,000 square metres. The historic buildings were charmingly renovated with a petrol station from the 1950s, an old casino with a bar and a bowling alley.

Lichtenberg
© visitBerlin, Foto:Wolfgang Scholvien

Also a former margarine factory from 1909, the "Margarine Factory Berolina", is today the home of the art factory HB55, "Centre for artistic and craft workshops".
The "Alte Gießerei Berlin e. V." is located in an old factory in Berlin-Lichtenberg. It offers a wide range of art and culture and organises regular exhibitions, workshops, readings, screenings and discussions.

And even the former restricted area of the State Security in Hohenschönhausen is now home to the artists. Once the Ministry for State Security had spy equipment developed and produced in the building, today the artists of the ID Studio, the Intelligence Department Studios, design and work in around 270 studios.
The Villa HEIKE is located directly opposite, in the former secret NS archive of the Stasi temporary art projects take place.

The youth art school in the Demminer Straße offers courses and workshops to create your own art and also organizes exhibitions and other events.

Art event in Lichtenberg: Long Night of Pictures

Once a year, usually at the beginning of September, Lichtenberg invites you to the Long Night of Pictures. Then numerous artists open their studios and give an insight into their work.

Our app Going Local Berlin tells you more about Berlin's neighborhood.