March 17, 2026 | KiöR Hearing in the House of Representatives: Art in Public Spaces Defies Budget Cuts

The Office for Art in Public Spaces, KiöR (kulturwerk of the bbk berlin) participated in the hearing on the significance of art in architecture and art in urban spaces held at the House of Representatives on Monday, March 16, presenting a statement. Katinka Theis and Martin Schönfeld presented the office’s work and emphasized its relevance for artists and urban society.

State Secretary Richter-Kotowski emphasized the importance of both forms: “Art in architecture and art in urban spaces have [...] cultural and, above all, aesthetic significance.” She listed 34 competitions for 2024/25 and also addressed the budget cuts: “I won’t hide the fact that only €125,000 is available this year [...] a painful cut.” An amended “Building Directive” is expected in Q2/26.

Martin Schönfeld emphasized the power of art in architecture: “The Construction Directive provides the opportunity to let art have a broad impact and to allow diverse people of all classes and all generations [...] to participate in high-quality visual art.” He called for improvements in interdisciplinarity and highlighted the KiöR artist database as an important tool for infrastructural art promotion.

Katinka Theis focused on art in urban space: “Art in urban space brings life to city neighborhoods that raise major urban planning questions [...] vibrant projects like these [...] create many opportunities for interaction.” She cited the competition for Leipziger Straße and warned against its cancellation due to budget cuts: “This important field is [...] no longer sustainable.”

The cuts threaten low-threshold, publicly accessible art projects outside the art market. From the perspective of bbk berlin, the problem is that the Advisory Committee on Art in Architecture and Urban Space Projects (BAK) was dissolved two years ago and has not yet been reinstated. This gap must be closed urgently.

Nevertheless, KiöR is hopeful that the keynote address to the members of the House of Representatives will bear fruit.

The session was recorded on video and is now available in the House of Representatives’ media library:

“65. Sitzung des Ausschusses für Kultur, Engagement und Demokratieförderung am 16.03.2026”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXrzjag9J34&list=PLgqUxMeOmFHwGeGhstZMYz9-6NyBfJvRa&index=2