ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the lives of the Berlin artists. Berlin's relatively cheap rent enables artists to produce work in a way that would be difficult in cities such as London, but being able to sell work would depend on their belonging to global art networks. One of the artists interviewed, Magda, said it was common to fund projects through odd jobs or other income sources, such as beer sales at parties. Most of the artists supported themselves through casual part-time employment. Other research suggests that Berlin artists are experiencing a low-wage economy, in comparison to other freelancers and also in relation to artists in other German cities. In Berlin, the situation was very different; the low rent freed artists from the pressures to take on second jobs, allowing them to make art full-time; the nature of Berlin's economy meant that the possibilities of finding stable arts-related work were anyway quite limited.
