Safe Space(upcoming)

Temporary installation and public program in cooperation with Gerd Stange - Hamburg (GER) - 06/25

A green traffic island on Tarpenbekstraße in Hamburg Eppendorf - an in between space, noisy and uninviting. Underground lies a two-tube bunker, built in 1940 as wartime refuge. In 1994, artists Gerd Stange and Michael Batz reactivated the space as SUBBÜHNE - a temporary cultural venue where among others KP Brehmer, Jochen Hiltmann and Carl Vogel held public readings and performances. Today, the bunker remains under city regulation, occasionally hosting small cultural events. A plaque on the traffic island serves as quiet marker of its past.

This work takes its starting point in the bunkers original purpose as a Safe Space, while recognizing it as symbol of inequality. WHO was allowed into the shelter during the war was determined by social, political, and racial criteria - offering protection to some while systematically excluding others.

What does "Safe Space" mean in today’s social and political landscape? Who and what is protected, and who decides? This intervention extends the term metaphorically and spatially beyond the bunker into the public sphere, making it open to negotiation. A temporary public platform - a third tube.

As both a physical and conceptual extension of the SUBBÜHNE, this project is developed in collaboration with Gerd Stange, connecting historical narratives with contemporary social questions. A public program will invite participants to engage through writing, visuals, and other forms of expression, fostering collective reflection. Further details and dates will be announced soon.