Zapata Cafe

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Café Zapata (Photo: 2008)

The Café Zapata existed from 1990 to 2011 in the Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin-Mitte . As an underground club , artist bar and with a large sculpture park in the backyard of the building, it helped shape the Berlin post-reunification scene. As an initially spontaneous gastronomy and cultural site in the occupied department store ruins, which received a lease from 1998 and was vacated in 2011, the Zapata is an example of this time and the change in the city.

history

The Kunsthaus Tacheles was built in 1990 in an occupied department store ruin. Artists in particular used the last, not yet demolished part of the building in the former Friedrichstrasse Passage on Oranienburger Strasse in what was then East Berlin for exhibitions, studios and workshops. The Zapata café was founded on the ground floor in May 1990, between the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification , by Peter Poynton , an Australian student in transit.

After an attack by right-wing hooligans on Café Zapata in June 1990 with several injuries, it experienced strong and international solidarity from artists, musicians and theater groups. The Zapata and the Tacheles were increasingly noticed and established themselves as alternative art and culture locations until the 2010s.

“The Tacheles is the last artist fortress in the souped-up center of Berlin. In Oranienburgerstrasse, which is littered with hookers, cops and tourists, people like to stop off at Zapata im Tacheles, where an extraordinary program is offered seven days a week. (...) For the last 20 years, the giant dragon has been spitting real fire over the heads of the guests, who watches over drinkers and pourers at the long black bar. Rammstein didn't just play once at the beginning of his career, ” wrote the club guide , for example .

In 1992 the Café Zapata, now under the direction of the artist Ludwig Eben , had to be licensed under pressure from the authorities. The professional event and catering business developed into an important financial pillar for Tacheles as a whole. The income generated by the Zapata gave, for example, a certain freedom to negotiate with the property's investor at the time, the Fundus Group . The association of the Kunsthaus Tacheles was able to conclude a 10-year contract for a monthly rent of DM 1 (approx. 50 euro cents) per square meter from January 1st, 1998. Thanks to the security of the contract, the Zapata café was renovated and expanded.

The sculpture park on the open space behind the Tacheles building has been one of the same projects since 1993. With funding from the Senate, contaminated sites such as asbestos and other toxic substances were disposed of at great expense . The scrap was also material for new sculptures, especially made of metal. Concrete blocks or a post from the former death strip were also reused as art material.

Ultimately, Café Zapata was unable to escape the years of pressure to sell the property from international investors, banks and numerous eviction attempts. There were also internal disputes between two relevant parties within the Tacheles. In 2003 the Tacheles e. V. with an eviction order against the Zapata; Just accused the club of breach of contract.
On April 5, 2011, the Zapata café closed “with its fire-breathing kite”. Around 2000 bands have performed there since it opened. There were u. a. Concerts by Test Department , Götz Widmann , Samavayo and Soundtrack of our Lifes . There were also electro DJs, techno parties and label nights. There were around 250 exhibitions, numerous readings, e.g. B. with Howard Marks , and art shows.

Web links

Collection of flyers on the official website of Ludwig Eben: Flyer

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Willmann: Hooligans in the GDR: "Then we went pillaging through East Berlin" . In: The time . May 25, 2016, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed October 21, 2019]).
  2. ^ The squatter movement in East Berlin, part 2. In: telegraph issue 10/1995. Retrieved October 21, 2019 .
  3. ^ Whitsun in East Berlin - New attacks by Nazis and hooligans. In: Fascists in the GDR and anti-fascist resistance. July 1990, Retrieved October 21, 2019 .
  4. ^ Zapata in Tacheles Berlin. In: clubguideberlin. Retrieved October 21, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Klaus Hartung, Vincent Kohlbecher: Gestalten in transition . In: Die Zeit - ZeitMagazin . No. 49/1993 , December 3, 1993, pp. 45 ff .
  6. ↑ Claudia Wuttke: Stray signs, empty tubes. Tidied up: new sculptures in the backyard of the Tacheles . Ed .: Der Tagesspiegel. Berlin June 1, 1993.
  7. ^ Nina Apin: Künstlerhaus Tacheles before the end: Culture Ballermann against Money Goliath . In: The daily newspaper: taz . January 28, 2010, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed October 21, 2019]).
  8. ↑ Sven Becker, Sebastian Erb, Wiebke Hollersen: CAPITAL: Culture against capital . In: Spiegel Online . tape 35 , August 30, 2010 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 21, 2019]).
  9. ↑ Evacuation failed in Tacheles. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. July 21, 2010, accessed October 21, 2019 .
  10. ^ Nina Apin: Kunsthaus before the end: Tacheles an der Oranienburger . In: The daily newspaper: taz . January 17, 2008, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed October 21, 2019]).
  11. ↑ Noise in the Tacheles: Café Zapata is to be cleared. In: Der Tagesspiegel. December 12, 2003, accessed October 21, 2019 .
  12. ^ Sören Brinkmann: Berlin - What will become of the Tacheles? The legendary Kunsthaus two years after it was vacated. In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur. August 26, 2014, accessed October 21, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Café owner: This is how the Tacheles deal went. In: BZ. April 6, 2011, accessed October 21, 2019 .
  14. ^ Voltage Musique Night. In: Resident Advisor. November 19, 2010, accessed October 21, 2019 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '33 "  N , 13 ° 23' 19.2"  E