Deutsche Wohnen and The Dixons start street art project in Berlin-Neukölln – Art in the neighbourhood: 20 Berlin artists brighten up multi-storey car park in Hugo-Heimann-Straße
Multi-storey car parks can be brightly coloured too. This is proved by the artists’ collective The Dixons in a street art project which it is running jointly with Deutsche Wohnen. The group, which is known for projects like THE HAUS and the Berlin Mural Festival, curated around twenty Berlin artists for Deutsche Wohnen. Then, in the period between September and October 2020, unique works of art were created that give the freshly refurbished car park building in Berlin-Neukölln the appearance of an art gallery – both on the inside and the outside.
The aim of the project is not just to enhance the refurbished multi-storey car park for the tenants and residents who live in the immediate vicinity. It also signifies how Deutsche Wohnen is intensifying its involvement in the area of art and culture by once again supporting Berlin artists who are being particularly hard hit by the corona crisis in the exercise of their profession.
As Juliane Kieslinger, Head of Corporate Communication at Deutsche Wohnen, explains, “We are not only enthusiastic about modern architecture; we are fans of modern art as well. It is really impressive to see the life that street art can conjure up on bare walls. By supporting projects involving young artists and by making surfaces on our buildings available as a canvas, we don’t just want to champion a vibrant and dynamic neighbourhood culture in Berlin. We also want to support young art.”
Kimo of The Dixons adds, “We didn’t actually expect that we would be managing another major art project in Berlin in 2020. So we are particularly pleased that Deutsche Wohnen is continuing to invest in the Berlin urban art scene in a year as difficult as this and that, in redesigning the multi-storey car park, it has not only created a further location for urban art in Berlin but has also supported Berlin artists.”
The artists’ crews, including, for example, members of the SBB (SuperBadBoys), Akte One, Kera, Anne Bengard and Yat, did not have to work to any specifications and were able to design the surfaces in the car park building however they wanted. What has emerged is an extraordinary mix of artworks that give the building a feel that is positive and completely new.
Deutsche Wohnen and The Dixons have been working together on various projects for over a year now. For example, the company supported the Berlin Mural Festival as a cooperation partner in 2019 and made ten walls on its properties available.
Deutsche Wohnen
Deutsche Wohnen is one of the leading publicly listed residential property companies in Europe. The business focus of the company is on managing its own portfolio of residential properties in dynamic metropolitan regions and conurbations in Germany. Deutsche Wohnen sees itself as having both a social responsibility and a duty to maintain and newly develop good-quality and affordable housing in vibrant residential neighbourhoods. As at 30 June 2020, the portfolio comprised a total of around 165,000 units, of which 162,200 are residential and 2,800 commercial. Deutsche Wohnen SE is listed in the Deutsche Börse’s DAX and is also included in the leading indices EPRA/NAREIT, STOXX Europe 600, GPR 250 and DAX 50 ESG.
