This was beautifully written and it gripped me from the start. The closing graffiti, "How long was now," reminded me of an idea Mark Fisher often wrote about, which I think captures what the whole essay is building toward. This is hauntology in Fisher's sense. It's not nostalgia for the old Berlin, but grief for a future that was once promised and was quietly taken away. Pod's tour then becomes a slow walk through that lost future.
I have two thoughts from that perspective. First, the chain bar serving "an image of punk" feels to me less like simple cooption and more like what Fisher called precorporation. The rebellious style was already packaged to be sold long before the crypto crowd arrived dressed like hackers. Capitalist realism doesn't simply take real desire and sell it later. It shapes desire in advance so that the marketable version comes first.
Second is the sadness you end with. Capitalism as "an inescapable show" is what Fisher called reflexive impotence- the feeling that there's no alternative (to quote Fisher "It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism."). It rests on a sense of defeat that the system creates and then feeds on. Fisher argued that this feeling should be understood politically rather than treated as a private emotional problem...so I would hesitate to let the tour remain only a memorial. The ghosts aren't just something to mourn, they're also proof that the Techeles of the 90s shows that people once created together outside the logic of profit. It was never impossible, just pushed aside. The tour then becomes an act of hauntology, remembering a future that was lost. Fisher would say the next step would be to turn that memory into a political demand.
But we are not constrained to collaborate with this nervous system... that must be repeated thousand times, we just have to "dream" and act differently...
It always surprises me to see capitalism described as a "system". It makes it seem like something artificial. Capitalism seems to me to be a behavioural tendency, a tendency to accumulate. It's driven by fear of scarcity and greed for more, often, but also by peer pressure as described by Brett. Anyway, we all have a bit of capitalist in us. But then we all have a bit of a&�/£ in us too.
Great piece. I wonder if it would help there to be a common term to distinguish between gentrification as you define it here, and an area improving without that happening (or happening less at least). As part of the way gentrification gets justified is through the implication that it is the only way a poor/rough area might get nicer to live in
Thanks Brett, a good read & journey - appreciated. I think you start to get to the nub of it in the last paragraphs - it is us, people/community who inhabit spaces that are the real drivers (I reckon). The puzzle for me is whilst I can see/understand the old “Haus der Technik” community - it would never be one I’d be comfortable in (maybe just in early youth for a short burst). I think the “force” of commercialization you identify in such a visceral way is perhaps one that allows more people to viably be part of a certain space.
Of course I realise in any new guise, they likely are not inhabiting it just using and being part of it. Nevertheless I think the force of numbers (of people) able to use such a space has its own power. I almost map this onto the concept of Entropy (and 2nd Law of Thermodynamics).
The questions becomes how or why don’t I help create spaces that maybe have culturesand communities that I would like to be part of? Surely there are folk who might acquire spaces and offer them to groups to use & shape? Maybe freely with no strings though I can’t help sensing that freely would migrate to a form of mass appeal in a different form.
What might it have needed for some folk pre-commercialization to have acquired ownership/control rights and left it be? Interesting question.
That's the kind of experiment in culture/community building we're engaged in out here in Ireland! Six of us came together to buy some land out of the market (partly funded by the proceeds of my friend's book about living for a year without money!), and have created a place — The Happy Pig — where anyone can come and be without having to find money for the privilege of existing.
Hey Brett, Thx so much for these valuable insights ! The XLterrestrials have been wanting to reflect on and expand on some of these angles you have shed more light on ( w/ the economics venacular ) ... and territories that we can maybe elaborate on in upcoming Subkultur Tours, which will likely be running through July and August. One of the things we try to emphasize in this tour project is that we urgently need to come up with strategies to defend and reclaim our habitats and our livelihoods, and resist the corporate takeovers and techno-colonialism. Fotografiska and AM Tacheles have been for us prime examples ( and painful experiences ) of that happening in our physical urban environments. And things like Spotify, Google, Amazon, etc. - and maybe Net Culture in general - grabbing up the markets in the virtual / technosphere realms. ... We are working on a new thread / series of articles about these parallel gentrif*ck + krapitalism nightmares, but have only scratched the surfaces so far... https://xlterrestrials.substack.com/p/radical-antidotes-for-technological
Loved this article. Your friend Pod's experience of this strange and exciting liminal time of the early 90s matches my own, and its point of departure for my own intellectual journey.
I first went to the city in 2009 to sell T-shirts on the street. I ended up in Tacheles and instantly fell in love, as if all the theory I've read before just clicked into place. I would come back from time to time, venturing deeper and deeper (once squatting the alter eisfabrik for a week that stood in front of Köpi).
Sad to see that the scene is on the back foot defence with the recent news of Cassiopeia getting evicted.
I'll be sure to drop you a line next time I'm over there!
This was beautifully written and it gripped me from the start. The closing graffiti, "How long was now," reminded me of an idea Mark Fisher often wrote about, which I think captures what the whole essay is building toward. This is hauntology in Fisher's sense. It's not nostalgia for the old Berlin, but grief for a future that was once promised and was quietly taken away. Pod's tour then becomes a slow walk through that lost future.
I have two thoughts from that perspective. First, the chain bar serving "an image of punk" feels to me less like simple cooption and more like what Fisher called precorporation. The rebellious style was already packaged to be sold long before the crypto crowd arrived dressed like hackers. Capitalist realism doesn't simply take real desire and sell it later. It shapes desire in advance so that the marketable version comes first.
Second is the sadness you end with. Capitalism as "an inescapable show" is what Fisher called reflexive impotence- the feeling that there's no alternative (to quote Fisher "It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism."). It rests on a sense of defeat that the system creates and then feeds on. Fisher argued that this feeling should be understood politically rather than treated as a private emotional problem...so I would hesitate to let the tour remain only a memorial. The ghosts aren't just something to mourn, they're also proof that the Techeles of the 90s shows that people once created together outside the logic of profit. It was never impossible, just pushed aside. The tour then becomes an act of hauntology, remembering a future that was lost. Fisher would say the next step would be to turn that memory into a political demand.
But we are not constrained to collaborate with this nervous system... that must be repeated thousand times, we just have to "dream" and act differently...
It always surprises me to see capitalism described as a "system". It makes it seem like something artificial. Capitalism seems to me to be a behavioural tendency, a tendency to accumulate. It's driven by fear of scarcity and greed for more, often, but also by peer pressure as described by Brett. Anyway, we all have a bit of capitalist in us. But then we all have a bit of a&�/£ in us too.
Great piece. I wonder if it would help there to be a common term to distinguish between gentrification as you define it here, and an area improving without that happening (or happening less at least). As part of the way gentrification gets justified is through the implication that it is the only way a poor/rough area might get nicer to live in
Thanks Brett, a good read & journey - appreciated. I think you start to get to the nub of it in the last paragraphs - it is us, people/community who inhabit spaces that are the real drivers (I reckon). The puzzle for me is whilst I can see/understand the old “Haus der Technik” community - it would never be one I’d be comfortable in (maybe just in early youth for a short burst). I think the “force” of commercialization you identify in such a visceral way is perhaps one that allows more people to viably be part of a certain space.
Of course I realise in any new guise, they likely are not inhabiting it just using and being part of it. Nevertheless I think the force of numbers (of people) able to use such a space has its own power. I almost map this onto the concept of Entropy (and 2nd Law of Thermodynamics).
The questions becomes how or why don’t I help create spaces that maybe have culturesand communities that I would like to be part of? Surely there are folk who might acquire spaces and offer them to groups to use & shape? Maybe freely with no strings though I can’t help sensing that freely would migrate to a form of mass appeal in a different form.
What might it have needed for some folk pre-commercialization to have acquired ownership/control rights and left it be? Interesting question.
That's the kind of experiment in culture/community building we're engaged in out here in Ireland! Six of us came together to buy some land out of the market (partly funded by the proceeds of my friend's book about living for a year without money!), and have created a place — The Happy Pig — where anyone can come and be without having to find money for the privilege of existing.
It feels a fun ride!
https://mstdn.social/@DarkOptimism/109410285273214948
You live in Berlin? We should meet up. Your writing is amazing!
Very well organized and written!
Hey Brett, Thx so much for these valuable insights ! The XLterrestrials have been wanting to reflect on and expand on some of these angles you have shed more light on ( w/ the economics venacular ) ... and territories that we can maybe elaborate on in upcoming Subkultur Tours, which will likely be running through July and August. One of the things we try to emphasize in this tour project is that we urgently need to come up with strategies to defend and reclaim our habitats and our livelihoods, and resist the corporate takeovers and techno-colonialism. Fotografiska and AM Tacheles have been for us prime examples ( and painful experiences ) of that happening in our physical urban environments. And things like Spotify, Google, Amazon, etc. - and maybe Net Culture in general - grabbing up the markets in the virtual / technosphere realms. ... We are working on a new thread / series of articles about these parallel gentrif*ck + krapitalism nightmares, but have only scratched the surfaces so far... https://xlterrestrials.substack.com/p/radical-antidotes-for-technological
You should have a look at Belgrade Brett. Smoke anywhere and a sense of freedom you won’t find in Europe.
Loved this article. Your friend Pod's experience of this strange and exciting liminal time of the early 90s matches my own, and its point of departure for my own intellectual journey.
This article seems relevent
The third wave of American philanthropy
AI is about to generate hundreds of billions in new philanthropic funding. We have a huge amount of work to do to make the most of it.
https://nanransohoff.substack.com/p/the-third-wave-of-american-philanthropy
Really enjoyed this. Excellent piece!
"Hollowing-out process" and the bonsai's metaphore are beautifull
I didn't realize you live in Berlin!
I first went to the city in 2009 to sell T-shirts on the street. I ended up in Tacheles and instantly fell in love, as if all the theory I've read before just clicked into place. I would come back from time to time, venturing deeper and deeper (once squatting the alter eisfabrik for a week that stood in front of Köpi).
Sad to see that the scene is on the back foot defence with the recent news of Cassiopeia getting evicted.
I'll be sure to drop you a line next time I'm over there!
Please do!
Thanks for sharing Gergo - I wish I'd got to experience Tacheles