ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 functions as a short bridging chapter between the analysis of the constitution of the Koalition der Freien Szene as a collective actor in Berlin’s cultural political field (Chapter 3) and the group’s governance- and policy-related activities (Chapter 5). The chapter engages with the representative and legitimatory difficulties implicated in potential institutionalization and outlines both artist activists’ and cultural policy-makers’ perceived advantages and challenges to create more legal addressability.
Addressing concerns and consequences following from organization-building and institutionalization (e.g., increasing bureaucracy, rigidity, decreasing agility, more exclusivity), the chapter underscores the internal conflictuality of the group elaborated in Chapter 3. The chapter problematizes the degree of (de)personalization of the Koalition, which can both facilitate and complicate the addressability of political claims. Moreover, it examines the institutional spin-off of the Koalition, embodied by the emergence of Arbeitskreis Räume (Working Group Space), which focuses on the provision and maintenance of spaces of artistic production and presentation for the independent art scene. Situated within a greater debate about the self-organization of civil and social movements, the chapter foregrounds how new collective actors need to balance formalization and flexibility to create institutional architectures that are adaptable to changing expectations of multiple political stakeholders.
