Get connected with other spaces and to try to bring in new thoughts.

Bring new ideas to

the Berlin art scene. That is what basically drives it: the new people coming in with
different approaches and different ideas. - Co-Founder and General Manager at ACUD
MACHT NEU, Johannes Braun

ACUD MACHT NEU Co-Founder and General Manager Johannes Braun offers a glimpse to
Silicon Allee on how the art scene and startup scene intermingle. From a spur of the moment
thought to renovate a bankrupt house to becoming a successful art hub in Berlin, Johannes
Braun details his journey from idea to execution.

What is the elevator pitch for your company?

Basically, this is an old office space which we reinitiated with the people who are still here and
we are trying to build it up as a new cultural startup space in Berlin and Mitte.

In what years was ACUD MACHT NEU founded?

We were founded in 2013, but the house in itself was already there since 1991. Before 1991 it
was empty for a while, but before that, it was just a normal meat house. The rest of the meat
market was destroyed in the war, but the people remained.

Who are the founders?

It was Julie Gayard and myself. We initiated the process, but now we are a team of six people
and in the future Ill be stepping out of the program and will just take care of the house in itself.

What inspired you to start your company?

It basically was a question about gentrification. Weve been artists for more than twenty years
and we have been working here in Mitte. As time went by, more and more of the art spaces and
studio spaces for artists vanished in the past twenty years. So, we had the chance to keep this
place and to reinitiate it as an artist run house; this was very interesting for us.

Tell us a bit about your competition and why you are better.

The approach would be more of a situation where wed be happy if here would be more clubs
and art spaces in the area because now we often have to attract people from Neuklln and
Wedding to come here. This is because the area has changed so much and I dont think that
there can be enough art spaces in Berlin because a lot of spaces and clubs are vanishing at the
moment or are being closed. I wouldnt call it competition because there arent enough spaces
anyway in Berlin for this purpose anymore. I would welcome the opportunity to have more of an
audience by young people and an audience in general in Berlin. I mean, I have the fear that its
been heading toward the direction of other cities where they cant afford the housing anymore.
The artists and students who make up the cultural life are vanishing just like London.
What advice would you have for entrepreneurs just starting out in Berlin?

Get connected with other spaces and to try to bring in new thoughts. Bring new ideas to the
Berlin art scene. That is what basically drives it: the new people coming in with different
approaches and different ideas. I think in the past ten years, quality and idea wise, the cultural
independent art world and the art world in Berlin has developed very much.

The goal for the art scene is different here because the goal here is not really to earn money or
to grow because of earning money. Its not the idea of the project; its more the goal to change it
into cultural association.

What is your favorite spot in the neighborhood?

There is a very small Italian coffee place on Anklemer Strae which is in basically an old drive
through. It has a fantastic wood stove and best the best Italian coffee around. Its nearly on the
corner of Brunnerstrae and Anklemer Strae. Its called Caffe e Cioccolata.

Where do you see Berlin 5 years from now? 10 years?

5 years from now we will have maybe problems in relation to not enough housing. Well be
bigger so therell be much more pressure on people here to earn money. I think it will be more
commercially successful, but it will create similar problems like we have in Paris or London.

What one group/individual/project has been the most influential to you during your time
as an entrepreneur in Berlin?

No. I cant say most influential. I wouldnt want to name any specific person because I think in
Berlin its very much about this kind of huge diversity and network of people of influences.
Bertolt Brecht is the only thing that comes to mind as a personal side note.

Can you name one particular moment that has been pivotal during your time in
business?

The one singular moment was maybe when I was driving home with a friend who worked here
before we came in 2012. He told me about the situation of the house, which was bankrupt, and
basically this was when he told me about it. I thought, Okay. Maybe there is a chance to save
this house. This moment remains in my mind because it really was not like a plan or anything. It
was just a coincidental talk on the way home. I just started of the conversation saying, Yeah, so
how is your work? So, that was a starting point. We got into discussion with banks and with a
cultural association of ACUD to rebuild the house. It was a nice find since we had just been
kicked out of our own studio only a half a year before. We also still had and have our own studio
in Wedding, but it was more like a kind of like, maybe its still possible to act, to get active, to
get into action. Basically, the goal was and is to keep something and not to lead something to
maximal profit.

Has Berlins informal nature and unique history urban fabric, city divide, demographic,
etc. been a positive aspect of your time in the city?

I was born here so its been a little bit different. It has become so much more international. What
I like about Mitte is that it is kind of open, laissez-faire, and cosmopolitan. Its not like Prenzlauer
Berg or Kreuzberg. Prenzlauer Berg is a bit bourgeois in the sense that its about families and
more private; its very homogenous. And what I like about Mitte is you can meet very different
crowds here. Of course, its becoming expensive and theres also old shops that are closing, but
still everything is mixing up so you have quite an active intellectual life.

Finally, Coffee, Tea, or Club Mate?

Coffee.