The damaged grandeur of Spreepark always suited Berlin. The abandoned DDR amusement park in Plänterwald was the charming but dysfunctional younger sibling to the smarmy, high-flying success of Paris’ Euro Disney. Who needs a family-friendly money pit when Berlin’s decrepit Spreepark was completely free? And who wouldn’t risk breaking in and catching tetanus to see such famous Berlin landmarks as the broken Ferris wheel and the upturned T-Rex with its spindly little arms? Now all those features have been hoovered up and stashed in a large warehouse beside the car park. In a nice touch, they’ve put little peepholes in the corrugated iron wall so you can see the old rides now neatly lined up – like looking into a giant’s toy box.
Berliners who would have probably liked the park to stay exactly as it was, preserved indefinitely like a scene from an apocalyptic movie
It’s sad to see them go but the plan is for them to all be restored and returned with the grand reopening of the park in 2026. The state-owned “sustainable” development agency, Grün Berlin, are spearheading the rejuvenation – the same company that transformed the lush wilderness of Gleisdreick into a drab family park. They set up the Spreepark Art Space, which has commissioned several Berlin-based artists to aid them in the transformation, assuaging any criticism from nostalgic Berliners who would have probably liked the park to stay exactly as it was, preserved indefinitely like a scene from an apocalyptic movie. Sol Calero, a participant in this year’s Venice Biennale, will turn the former Swan Waterway into The Algae House with her ironically vibrant Latino-American aesthetics. Swiss artist Claudia Comte’s Bridget Riley-inspired pathways will create an optical illusion activated through movement – seen from the repaired Ferris wheel, this promises to be quite the spectacle.
Everything about this redevelopment sounds surprisingly good, as do the plans for the newly renovated Eierhäuschen, a former Berlin holiday and excursion location from the 19th century. Inside, it boasts a perfectly decent restaurant, a new multi-room exhibition space, a studio and living quarters for an ambitious new artist residency programme. Its first exhibition, titled Park Insights, shows four new artist installations that meditate on the legacy and environment of the Spreepark. Each is loosely devoted to a sense: sound, smell and sight. It is not a particularly inspiring selection of work, but it’s not bad, either. If anything, it feels made to measure: art designed to appeal to day-tripping families.
If you get up close, you can see all the lively organisms wriggling around inside
The installation by Annett Zinsmeister is a case in point. This must have looked quite good in the planning stages, a kind of psychogeographical mapping of the artist’s early memories and documentation of Spreepark. But then rather than being transportive, its plastic nylon carpet and hanging plastic prints creates a grim atmosphere, reeking of – you guessed it – plastic. More successful are Sissel Tolaas’ semi-circular vitrines that have scooped up water from the Spree and from a pool in the park. The muggy and brackish odour of the water wafts through the gallery, and if you get up close, you can see all the lively organisms wriggling around inside.
Of course, it is still early days. The park is slowly awakening from its long slumber and the gallery looks set to have a diverse programme of events and exhibitions to make it worth a visit. Perhaps we should all just be grateful that the foundations are not being dug on some towering new residential development. With its sweeping views of the Spree, this must surely have been considered. For Berliners pining for the loss of their dilapidated amusement park, there’s also got to be a joy in seeing its revival, even if the finished result is going to be a lot less enchanting and a good deal slicker.
- Park Insights through May 20
