Mark Romei

Preserving Temporary Collectivity, 2019


In collaboration with Campus in Camps, this project was a collective reflection on the engagement with STATISTA in September 2019. STATISTA brought together ten community-led art collectives (ExRotaprint, MACAO, CATPC, Campus in Camps, Planbude, Nachbarschaftsakademie Prinzessinnengarten, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, Chto Delat, ruangrupa), all focused on building alternative infrastructures and initiating collective actions. The program took place in the former House of Statistics, the GDR’s central intelligence bureau in East Berlin. With the disused building slated for redesign, STATISTA explored how temporary and collective forms of organisation could influence such urban developments, carving out space for cultural, social, educational, and political initiatives while resisting gentrification.

Following my engagement with the program, I worked with Campus in Camps to consider what aspects of the temporary activation could be preserved along with the building, and how this approach could inform future temporary uses. This drawing was subsequently published in the book STATISTA: Towards a Statcraft of the Future, by ZK/U Zentrum fur Kunst & Urbanistik ZK/U Zentrum fur Kunst & Urbanistik.