The Mini-Munich play town has existed since 1979, where children and young people can try out – almost – real life. Now the concept has been awarded the Golden Cubes Award by the Union Internationale des Architectes in Copenhagen – how come? Cultural pioneer Gerd Grüneisl knows the answer.
At the beginning there was a return. A return to Johannisplatz in Haidhausen, where Gerd Grüneisl grew up nearby at Preysingstrasse 52 – a post-war childhood with memories of uncontrolled, diverse venues. So it was obvious for the young art teacher, who initially studied architecture up to his intermediate diploma before moving to the Munich Art Academy, to come back here. At the beginning of the 1970s, he and five fellow educators wanted nothing less “than to revolutionize schools, or at least change them.” At a meeting in the café on Wiener Platz, Grüneisl remembers his journey from art teacher at the high school to “cultural educator” in extracurricular children’s and youth cultural work. For him, a professional existence developed somewhere between art, pedagogy and everyday culture.