Making space –"At the cinema, a private space where nobody and everybody feels at home." (Heide Schlüpmann)

From 1963 to 1970, Arsenal moved from place to place; for the next 30 years, it was permanently housed in a historic movie theater in a quiet residential neighborhood; then, for 25 years, it was part of the Filmhaus and the post-reunification utopia of Potsdamer Platz. Now, Arsenal has arrived at the silent green Kulturquartier, a former crematorium transformed into a venue for film and music projects. The Arsenal Film Institute moved its archive here as early as 2015; the offices followed 10 years later, occupying a residential building across the street — and now the new cinema has found a home in one of the former funeral halls.

Throughout its history, Arsenal has always navigated the space between private and public realms. The foyer in the old apartment building in Schöneberg was so compact that just a few cinemagoers could evoke a sense of confinement; in the Sony Center, by contrast, the foyer was so vast that an individual could have an acute sense of solitude even in a crowd. But in both places, once in the cinema and watching the film on the screen a visitor could experience the sense of human connection in the darkness spoken of by Heide Schlüpmann, who once described cinema as the antechamber of the political. For many, the two will remain linked to memories of film experiences shaped as much by the works themselves as by lively discussions.

silent green offers a new form of public space: via the main entrance on Plantagenstraße the foyer connects the cinema to the district of Wedding, and via the side entrance to the garden of th restaurant MARS and the Arsenal Film Archive. Connections between exterior and interior spaces lead us from the street through the cinema to various cultural players based there.

The darkened auditorium provides a sanctuary for the intimacy of viewing, the experience of the private within the collective. When the lights come on, a space opens up for exchange and discussion, for a diversity of opinions and perspectives. 

The Making space program marks the beginning of a long-term series of screenings and events exploring the role of cinemas and other cultural venues in today’s political and social landscape. Every month, there will be a collaboration with a different institution or organization. The series will kick off with ALFILM, the Arab Film Festival in Berlin, which could not take place at the Arsenal this year because of construction work, featuring the film HABIBI HUSSEIN. The German title of the series is borrowed from an untranslated book by Heide Schlüpmann called Raumgeben – der Film dem Kino, which translates loosely as "film makes space for the cinema".

(Stefanie Schulte Strathaus)