11.09.2026 | KiöR Walk through Berlin: Art in Architecture and Art in Public Space between Potential and Challenges

As part of the #BerlinIstKultur action week, the Office for Art in Public Space (KiöR) conducted a "KiöR Walk" through Berlin's city centre on 9 September 2026.

The "Gertraudenhain" provided a lively start for the fifteen participants. Artist Christof Zwiener explained the significance of the "tiny forest" he initiated. It is both a statement for a necessary urban ecology and an impulse for social change in the traffic-dominated urban space on Leipziger Straße. From there, the KiöR Walk passed by "PetriBerlin" and the art-in-architecture floor mosaic by Alona Rodeh, approaching the controversial Humboldt Forum. The palace replica also faced public criticism for its art in architecture, as the last art commission for the monumental building was awarded to an architect rather than an artist.

The KiöR Walk highlighted the different commissioning levels for art in architecture and art in public space, which operate at the municipal (district), state and federal level. All three commissioning structures are applied in Berlin and offer professional visual artists diverse working opportunities.

That transparency and equal opportunity in Berlin's public competition system remain a challenge was illustrated at the site of the Berlin Luther Monument. Here, an initial competition result had been overturned by a dubious new call for submissions. The maintenance and upkeep of existing art in public space also remain an ongoing challenge, as demonstrated by the "Block der Frauen", the memorial commemorating the Rosenstraße women's protests of 1943, by Ingeborg Hunzinger. Artist Maria Eichhorn used her Käthe Kollwitz Prize from the Akademie der Künste to fund a conservation assessment of the remarkable artwork.

The KiöR Walk brought together a compact programme of current developments and challenges in art in architecture and art in public space. As a reminder: the state of Berlin's funding for art in urban space has been reduced by 66 percent since 2024, and funding for district-level cultural projects in urban space (Draußenstadt) was eliminated entirely from the 2026/27 budget. At the same time, budgets for art in architecture have not increased in 25 years. 

Art in public space is low-threshold, as it is freely and openly accessible to everyone. 

It thus embodies the democratic principle of culture for all, which is why politicians are urged – both ahead of and following the elections – to recognise that these structures are not only worth preserving but in need of active support, and must be strengthened and expanded.