It was the gallery weekend and my friend had lots of interesting places for us to discover. One was in “my” district. A place many people in Berlin don’t consider living. Ha! I had no idea what to expect which is the best for a city excursion –  love to go on excursions ever since it got introduced to me in first school year or was it in kindergarden? For sur a long time ago and it still excites me every time. 😉 As a matter of fact I still constantly go on excursions, but for now let’s go  back to Lichtenberg.  The moment we entered the area I felt amazed and intrigued. … Old original GDR style buildings and garages, an old gas station … Wow … And apparently only open for public on special occasions. Can you imagine: I have the old GDR ministerial  transport HQ and the former Stasi Headquarter around the corner. Lucky me 😎

“where  the leaders of the communist sed regime were wined and dined at banquets and official state functions, today, a creative and innovative community of artists, artisans and workshops is flourishing without peer in berlin.

situated approx. 5 km from the alexanderplatz in berlin-lichtenberg, the FAHRBEREITSCHAFT seems inconspicuous at first glance: it consists of classical gdr-buildings, garages and auto paint shop advertisements. apart from mitte and friedrichshain, a typical image of east berlin. but in spite of what the drab industrial area near the vietnamese dong xuan centre would have you believe, the 193,000 sqft former gdr-ministerial transport hq has a lot to offer. alongside the former garages, which have almost all been rebuilt to attractive, light filled studios and ateliers, 13 further historical buildings are being upgraded to modern technological standards while maintaining respect for historical significance and details that they have to offer. the highlights are the well maintained petrol station dating from the 1950s, the casino including an authentic bar, the ballroom, the bowling alley (with an equally authentic bar) and the wonderfully glazed operations hq. with its ample gdr-ambience the FAHRBEREITSCHAFT provides a unique setting for events and film- and photo shootings, as seen in wladimir kaminer’s “russendisko”, the ard-production “weissensee”, arte’s “durch die nacht mit” as well as during numerous private and corporate events.

the location will continue developing as a unique and creative hub. FAHRBEREITSCHAFT still is home to an auto paint shop and two workshops, a tire dealership and the worker’s samaritan union, but now also boasts various fashion producers. More and more contemporary artists have been settling …….”

http://www.fahrbereitschaft.org/info/#english
​​This is where the drivers looked and placed the car keys 🙂 

haubrok foundation

“purpose of the haubrok foundation is to substantially foster contemporary art. besides other, it used to support the exhibitions of haubrokshows and nowadays of haubrokprojects. the foundation’s nominal capital consists of central works of the haubrok collection, to the day barbara and axel haubrok donated 14 pieces to secure the collection’s core long-term. 13 of the pieces were handed over to staatliche museen zu berlin, nationalgalerie, as permanent loans in november 2010.”

http://www.haubrok.org/foundation/#english

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I really enjoyed the time we spent, exploring, seeng, smelling and diving into. It great that so much kept alive for us to explore. Great place.