I signed a petition to save Kunsthaus Tacheles

Never Done: I signed a petition to save Kunsthaus Tacheles

I don't know how to describe the Kunsthaus Tacheles (Tacheles art house) except to say to imagine the most substantial five-story stone building that takes up a city block, and then fill it with international artists, punks, and hippies. Name it for a Yiddish word that means basically straight talk about real things, like economics and world events. Spray paint every available surface, and build out galleries and studios on every floor -- some ceramic studios, some theater studios, some painting studios, some jewelry. Some doors open; some doors closed. Some with signs welcoming visitors; others with signs telling people not to take any fucking photos. Make one whole floor a marketplace, piss in the corners from time to time so the smell will linger. Curate performance art and music and all sorts of performance in the massive space. Give the entire top floor of one wing to an amazing Belarusian painter to paint huge intricate work in response to Chernobyl. Outside, some people could live in some trailers and make a sculpture garden with a little café, and there could be some old couches scattered around for punks and tourists to hang out on and woo each other. The whole thing should feel like it was squatted originally, and now it should feel like it's a massive radical art space that should never, ever, ever, ever be displaced.

But guess what? It's on a block with very fancy real estate across the street. Restaurants, event spaces. And some developers are chomping at the bit to get their hands on it. Walking through the massive space, I cried thinking about the priorities of the people who would ever want to dismantle such a vital space. It's not that I can't imagine that the space and the artists have their -- shall we call them issues? Any place that smells like piss probably has its issues. But any place that is covered head to toe and wall to wall and floor to ceiling with art is also a space committed to hope and beauty and revolution -- and WHY CAN'T PEOPLE JUST LEAVE IT THE FUCK ALONE? Better yet, why can't they support it? A lot of people are. It says so all over the walls and floors and ceilings. And on the top floor, in the Belarusian's studio, there were petitions in 9 languages, asking people to voice their support for Tacheles. I signed the one in English, wrote down that I live in Brooklyn, NY.

A small thing to do, and yet something to do. Without even knowing much of its history until I got online later to research it, I walked through the nooks and crannies of this space in tears. Tears of hope and appreciation for the artists who created it and keep it going, and tears of anger at the thought that it might come undone.

I support Tacheles.