Floating University Berlin (FUB)

Amidst incessant social debate about the future of Berlin, a temporary campus will be installed atop an enormous concrete rainwater basin in Tempelhof in 2018. Conceived as an artificial island, the Floating University Berlin (FUB) distances itself both spatially and programmatically from the city’s urban dynamics, and in doing so, offers visitors the chance to gain an alternative view of urban processes. It creates a space which encourages reflection in those who assume that urban development is something they themselves cannot influence. FUB is an international place for sharing strategies of spatial production, an institution of mutual learning, and a laboratory for urban experiments. It focuses on cross-disciplinary learning and education, particularly with respect to disciplines which traditionally have very little overlap, e.g. urban development and dance, water management and the fine arts, architecture and waste management, scenography and city marketing, historical preservation and cultural reflection, or Islamic theology and urban design.

To promote such cross-disciplinary interaction, the FUB programme brings international experts and students enrolled at partner universities together with city residents, artists and researchers who wish to share their knowledge. Presentations, workshops, laboratories and performative interventions will address a wide range of topics. Participants in these formats will research, as well as collaboratively develop and implement new forms of urban action.

The rainwater basin is part of Berlin’s infrastructure, which, despite its advanced age, continues to fulfil its purpose. It is a place which defies the urban logic of economic exploitation and enables participants to become engaged.

Artistic direction: Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius, Licia Soldavini, Dorothee Halbrock, Florian Stirnemann (CH)