When the doors to the art barracks at Steinkirchner Straße 44 and 46 in Gräfelfing open this Friday, it will probably be the last studio days to which the artists are inviting. Because after more than 20 years they have received notice of termination for the use of the historic barracks. The Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks, as the owner of the property, plans to build housing on the site.
It is the last bit of wild growth that was allowed to thrive in Gräfelfing for decades: The Kunstbaracke is a long wooden building with lattice windows, wildly overgrown by bushes, along Steinkirchner Straße. The patina of the past has settled over the 1934 building, behind which stretches a huge, enchanted garden. For more than 20 years, around ten artists have been working in the wooden huts, always in changing casts. There is Christine Seidel-Müller, who works with stone, Barbara Bommers, who paints, Sebastian Bürck, the photographer, and Winfried Bethke, who creates stage sculptures. This is also where Allmuth Raupp’s marvels made of wool fibers and Angela Goebels-Pretzel’s filigree works of art on paper are created.
Filigree works: Angela Goebels-Pretzel dedicates herself to paper art.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Working in the art barracks means: mutual inspiration in an artist community, summer evenings by the fire bowl and gathering together by the wood stove in winter, when the draughty, barely heatable barracks show the downside of their summery charm. There are also mice that gnaw on pictures like time on old boards, but there is above all: diving into an oasis of calm that makes artistic creativity possible.
Termination has always hovered over tenants like the sword of Damocles
The termination of these wildly romantic artist workshops has always hovered over their tenants like the sword of Damocles. The site belongs to the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks and it was always clear that something else should be built on the site at some point. Someday is now: At the end of March 2023, according to the current status, the artists have to move out. The Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks is planning to create living space on the site, it said on request.
Mayor Peter Köstler (CSU) knows more: The living space is not created for the free housing market, but for federal employees. However, this will take some time, as there is no building permit on the site. The municipal council must first create a development plan, and Köstler has already set the cornerstones: “We would never allow development on the entire property.” Because the area borders on an important green space that separates the communities of Planegg and Gräfelfing. In view of the long planning horizon that is emerging, Köstler feels that the termination is very early. But the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks wants to clear the way quickly for “necessary preparatory work,” as it is called, in other words: the demolition of the barracks.
Artist Christine Seidel-Müller has dedicated herself to sculpture.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
A last visit is worthwhile, the address is a piece of Gräfelfingen local history. In 1908, Professor Max Dieckmann, physicist, high-frequency technician and professor at the Technical University of Gräfelfing, leased the meadow. He founded the wireless telegraphic and air-electric research station in Gräfelfing (DVG) and experimented with his students. Here the professor succeeded in the first wireless image transmission and he constructed a television with the help of the Braun tube, which made him a pioneer of television technology.
During the world wars, the barracks erected in 1934 were used for military purposes. After the war, a carpentry workshop was established, and later the Köhler handicraft shop. Finally, the artists moved in. Where they will stay in the future is unclear. There is no longer a place with comparable flair in Gräfelfing. They open their doors for the last time, this Friday at 7 p.m. for the vernissage and on Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.