Zirkus Mond Loses Land in Berlin After Eight Years
Max Mohr has to strike his tent and move on.
“It’s sad but we knew it was going to come, and we found another place,” Mohr said. The troupe of jugglers, dancers, and acrobats previously got its start putting on shows in abandoned buildings before settling on the site.
Die Greife Transforms From No-Man’s Land to Cultural Hub
Over the past decade, Zirkus Mond and other associations like Kollage Kollektiv, Jonny Knueppel, and Mucha gradually turned the stretch of vacant land called “die Greife” into a jumble of bars, open-air discos, and performance spaces. Interim usage rules allowed diskoBabel, the association running the site, to set up there initially, although electricity runs on generators and there is no running water.
“Here is where the magic happens, where you interact, where you can talk and where you can make plans and feel at home, feel seen,” Mohr said. Elva Lebrun from the Mucha association noted that such spaces used to be common in Berlin, forming part of the city’s raw and DIY essence.
Rising Property Prices Drive Away Berlin Artists
As Berlin has grown into the capital of a reunited Germany, prices have shot up and open spaces like die Greife have slowly disappeared. Residential property prices have more than tripled over the past 15 years, driving up rents and prompting a far-left party to win a state election last month on a pledge to take over housing from corporate landlords.
Spanish-born artistic director Juan Migama said housing costs are driving away many people previously drawn to the city. However, he added that Berlin remains very tolerant and open-minded, with a live-and-let-live attitude bred from long familiarity with unconventional artists.
Questions About Berlin’s Alternative Scene
Why did Zirkus Mond have to leave its location?
The developer who owned the vacant ground near Prenzlauer Berg and let the troupe use it for eight years wants the land back.
What associations helped build the die Greife site?
Associations including Zirkus Mond, Kollage Kollektiv, Jonny Knueppel, and Mucha turned the stretch of land into a collection of bars, discos, and performance spaces.
How have Berlin’s property prices shifted recently?
Residential property prices have more than tripled in the past 15 years, leading to soaring rents and a recent state election victory for a far-left party campaigning to cap rents and take over housing from corporate landlords.
Old warehouses and industrial sites provided artists with plenty of space for little money in the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
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