Upcoming: Zur Verkieselung des Stadtraumes: 3 - Die Zukunft

stay hungry

presents

Zur Verkieselung des Stadtraumes

3 - Die Zukunft

An intervention in Emmauswald/ Neukölln
with site-specific contributions
by

Andrea Acosta
Göksu Baysal
Benjamin Zuber
Ilgin Uçar

Timing:
Saturday, 27.06.26, 4-9 pm

Location:
stone rubble pile @ Emmauswald Neukölln

Access via Mariendorfer Weg 48
(turn in at the cloth container to reach the forest)
12051 Berlin-Neukölln
5 min walk from Hermannstraße

Click here for exact location on maps
Geodata : 52.462704, 13.424366 or FC7F+3PQ

In the third and final part of the public space intervention series Zur Verkieselung des Stadtraumes, stay hungry presents site specific works by Göksu Baysal, Andrea Acosta, Ilgın Uçar and Benjamin Zuber, which engage with the Emmauswald in Berlin Neukölln and its ongoing transformation in the context of current urban planning conflicts surrounding the future of the site.
Emerging on the grounds of a former cemetery, the Emmauswald has developed over decades into Neukölln’s largest connected woodland area and today functions both as an ecological refuge and a contested urban space threatened by large scale housing development plans.

The artistic contributions examine possible future scenarios for the site and address broader questions concerning urban densification, ecological preservation, collective space and the contradictions of contemporary city development.

Zur Verkieselung des Stadtraumes 3- Die Zukunft will take place around the stone rubble pile within the Emmauswald and is accompanied by Mobile Menu #25 by stay hungry, inviting visitors to gather, eat, linger and exchange and is part of Project Space Festival Berlin 2026.

About

Zur Verkieselung des Stadtraumes examines on the basis of three selected sites in Berlin, each symbolizing a temporal perspective of change through the past, the present and the future, those significant but also silent modifications of urban architecture through city planning measures and their influence on human and non human actors moving within them. The linking of local historical, cultural and urban political parameters from different temporal perspectives forms the basis for the artistic contributions and investigations.

The transformation of urban landscape and architecture is an essential part of the formation of urban space and the continuation of social and cultural development within urban society, while simultaneously carrying the potential for conflict through processes of densification, displacement and restructuring.

The title of the intervention series refers to the concept of silicification (Verkieselung), a geological and construction related process in which material changes its structure through external influence or is newly formed altogether. Within the urban context, silicification can be understood as a metaphor for social and spatial transformation processes in which urban environments are continuously reshaped through layers, overlaps and concentrations that generate both new forms of coexistence and mechanisms of exclusion.

Zur Verkieselung des Stadtraumes
3 – Die Zukunft

The final part of the series is dedicated to the Emmauswald in Neukölln and questions surrounding future forms of urban transformation, ecological preservation and collective urban space.

The Emmauswald emerged over decades on the grounds of the former Emmauskirchhof near Hermannstraße and Mariendorfer Weg and today forms the largest connected woodland area in Neukölln. Originally established in the late nineteenth century as part of Berlin’s expanding cemetery infrastructure at the urban periphery, the area gradually lost its original function over the course of the twentieth century. As graves were dissolved and maintenance declined, nature slowly reclaimed the site. Former cemetery structures, pathways, walls and architectural remnants became overgrown and merged with dense vegetation, self seeded trees and informal routes created by visitors over time.

What once represented the expansion of Berlin into formerly peripheral landscapes has today transformed into one of the district’s few larger ecological refuges within an increasingly densified urban environment. The area was recently classified as protected urban forest and functions as habitat for numerous bird species, bats, insects and other forms of urban wildlife.

At the same time, the Emmauswald has become the subject of an ongoing political and urban planning conflict. For years, plans for the construction of around 600 apartments on large parts of the forest area have been discussed where earlier proposals foresaw the almost complete clearing of the existing trees and undergrowth. More recent revisions now propose a denser but spatially reduced development that would partially preserve sections of the woodland. Nevertheless, the plans continue to provoke controversy concerning the actual possibility of preserving older trees and ecologically sensitive areas while maintaining the projected housing numbers.

The conflict surrounding the Emmauswald also opens broader questions concerning future models of urban planning and architectural development within growing cities. As available space becomes increasingly limited, urban green areas are more and more frequently treated as potential building ground, while simultaneously gaining importance as ecological refuges, climate buffers and collective spaces of retreat. The tensions between the preservation of existing urban nature and the creation of urgently needed housing reveal the contradictions of contemporary city development and raise questions concerning accessibility, ownership and the social distribution of urban space.

The intentions behind many large scale development projects often remain ambiguous. While housing shortages are used to justify extensive construction measures, the planned buildings frequently consist primarily of privately owned apartments and higher priced residential units, whereas socially accessible housing remains limited or undefined. Within this context, the Emmauswald becomes not only a local conflict surrounding a specific site, but also a symbolic space in which broader negotiations concerning ecology, social justice, privatization and the future image of the city become visible.

Citizen initiatives alongside environmental organisations, cultural workers and local residents continue to oppose the development plans and regard the forest as a symbol of resistance against investor driven urban transformation and the ongoing loss of urban ecological spaces. The conflict surrounding the Emmauswald increasingly reflects broader questions concerning climate protection, biodiversity, housing policy and the future balance between urban densification and the preservation of common green space within a growing city.

***

Within this context, the invited artists develop site specific works engaging with possible future scenarios for the Emmauswald and comparable urban environments. Questions emerge concerning which forms of transformation urban spaces require, tolerate or resist and how socially and ecologically sustainable interventions within existing city structures might become imaginable. The focus lies on activating the site through artistic interventions that enable visitors and passers by to experience the area through new spatial, social and temporal perspectives.

Enter the area at your own risk!

Please don't litter in the forest and behave respectful!