Interview

90mil Festival: truly here, truly now, and never to be repeated

Catalyst for collaboration, a living practice of mutual aid, and visions beyond the end.

By Alice Yang

From 1-3 August, Berlin’s beloved cultural hub 90mil hosts its first, and possibly last festival. With the theme beginning of the end, the weekend is a love letter to the spirit it has nurtured since 2023: a home for experimentation, cross-pollination, and creative collaboration across the spectrum of Berlin’s cultures and artforms. 

Born from impermanence, and built with care, 90mil is a living, breathing act of resistance: proof of what’s possible when people come together and create from what they have. As the temporary space nears the end of its time on Holzmarkstrasse, we speak with co-founder Thea Hope to discuss how the space came to be not just a living room for alternative culture, but a practice: of mutual aid, resilience, and imagining new futures through collective care. 

Your motto is “In the making to be destroyed”. What motivated this and the start of 90mil?

90mil is about embracing impermanence, acknowledging that in our lives, how we live and everything we know could be gone tomorrow. That’s a very real and increasingly common reality for many people. The motto speaks to that—to embrace our situation, both as 90mil and as the greater collective. 

The impermanence reflects the nature of 90mil, on all levels. In the literal sense, we currently have the space until March 2026. Developers own the space, and the building will be demolished for development in the coming months. But having that time constraint created urgency. People brought and gave so much, throwing their heart and soul into the community from the get-go. It's kind of like, "If not now, then maybe never." I sometimes think about a future space, a longer-term space, and wonder how it would be different. We created a precious and unique opportunity, and so much of what we achieved in such a short time we owe to the fact that we knew it would be gone.

When building the space with this timeframe in mind, what did you envision?

Having been in Berlin for a long time and being part of the creative scenes, sometimes it can feel somewhat separated or cliquish. People have their own genres, scenes, nationalities, or areas where they tend to hang out. The aim with 90mil, therefore, was to create a space that was not only multidisciplinary but also cross-genre and cross-community. We wanted to get people mixing.

90mil Members Lounge

To encourage this, we aimed to create a space that feels like a living room for all people, where people feel safe and welcome to claim as their own from the moment they walk in, regardless of their affiliation. When making the lounge bar area, for instance, we wanted it to feel truly relaxed and inviting, where people can unwind, be themselves, read a book, hold a meeting, or just hang out. Some residents are there all day. It's their creative home on a day-to-day basis. The kitchen is like our family kitchen. Artists and organisers are free to use it like they would in their own home, which immediately elevates the collective living room vibe. 

Both the project space and the theatre are very blank rooms. We don’t want to impose any aesthetic onto it, so that people who use the space can make it their own. We ask them, "How do you want to transform it?" and try not to impose an aesthetic or idea. It’s a blank canvas we invite Berlin to paint. 

90mil GOOCH Theatre

90mil means something different to everyone. They have different experiences here with their own communities. For me, the most beautiful moments are the transformations that happen because of these intersections. When a fundraiser and a punk show intersect, for example—setting up, breaking down—people see how the space transforms for another group. That’s something really juicy but lacking in this city. 

Why did you choose to take a DIY approach, and what does that look like in practice? How does working outside of institutional structures shape what’s possible creatively?

DIY isn’t about making do with what you’ve got; that framing suggests that you don’t have anything. It's about creating from the resources that already exist: asking what you can offer, what someone else can, what’s missing—piecing the puzzle together through looking at existing resources within us and our community, and asking what can happen from that, as opposed to looking externally to institutions or funding. That to me is DIY. It means working with what we have in our limited resources, which also holds true time-wise, as we are also under time constraint. 

The two go hand in hand in our creative process. These constraints enforce action.

Was the compatibility of DIY and temporality with 90mil’s motto something you had in mind, or did it just happen?

Again, it goes back to the building being demolished. Everything in it, anything we leave, will essentially go into a dump. It’s about finding the balance between the energy invested in the space and knowing it’s not forever. Environmentally, resource-wise, and materials-wise, we want to use what we already have. 

We also know that what we build doesn’t have to last forever, which is an amazing thing. Obviously, that doesn’t lead to the most aesthetically pleasing constructions, but they work, and that’s the point. Things just need to work to support what we’re doing for that particular time. It doesn’t have to last forever, but it’s practical. It serves the purpose we need it to at that time, which is super creative.

Even though it's not a pristine space, it feels real because it does the job. It’s very beautiful, maybe not physically, but energetically in the way that life moves through it. It's designed to be a space for people to connect, and being here for only a limited time draws focus to the possibilities of collaboration.

It means something that the two synchronise so well, reflecting the nature of art in its ability to encourage newness, which stems from learning from one another.

This is a quality that is often lost when art is institutionalised because it becomes standardised, and the product of the collaborative process is capitalised. 

There’s something about being able to build with what you've got and feeling autonomous, feeling like you have the ability to change things in the space you're in. We don’t often think about it because we’re typically in spaces where how we interact with it is prescribed or predetermined. In a DIY space like 90mil, if you see a problem, you can fix it. This is the way of being on the daily.

Engaging in this as a daily practice changes how proactive you are not only in your communities but in the world. You relearn your capacity for agency.

Something else we run is our monthly volunteering day Fix & Mix, where anyone can come down to help take care of the space by assisting with various tasks around the venue in exchange for food, drink and entry to whatever event is on that night. Whether it's fixing fixing pipes or building sound systems, it applies to the whole spectrum.

That’s also why things get done in such a short time. Through this as a daily practice, we want to restore the notion that we are the ones in control of how we want to live and collectively be. This practice helps people reclaim the authority to transform their own lives, creating newness by intermingling knowledge from different kinds of people, starting with the little practicalities in everyday life. 

Can you say more about the other projects that go on at 90mil?

With the DIY ethos, what we try to do is say, this is a space for you. It's like an incubator for people to test ideas—events, workshop concepts, studios. As they grow and people respond, we give them autonomy to develop their own ecosystems within the space. For instance, the movement space now has a huge program, including summer residencies with new groups arriving every two weeks. The art school became a separate ecosystem of alternative education, and the radio as well. It's amazing to see them grow into their own lives, which adds a whole other pull into the space. There’s now an entire section of people moving into the building because of a specific project they're interested in, who then cross-pollinate and get involved in other things. 

Das Zwischen: Between Dreams & Demolition (2024), Funded by Music Board Berlin, featuring Mama Matrix & Alf Brooks

We recently started Community Nights on Tuesdays, a programme of events by and for marginalised groups, including BIPOC and FLINTA groups. They’re cosy, chilled early evening events in the living room.

We also run residency programs, especially in the winter, providing space for a group of artists—typically 10 to 15—to develop and showcase their work. The theatre is now finally getting going. That was a tricky satellite to launch, but we now have several theatre development residencies.

At its core, these programs are about offering space for people to explore whatever project. It’s hard to find space to dedicate time to developing things here in Berlin without money. But when the space is given, amazing things happen that take on a life of their own. This is something we really try to support, filling the gap left by institutions to give the depth of cultures and creative disciplines in this city a chance to experiment and flourish. 

How do the different levels of accessibility to opportunity in the arts for marginalised identity groups reflect systems of power in Berlin, and how can a space like 90mil combat that?

The main issues, both in Berlin and globally, are funding, representation, and access. There’s a lot of gatekeeping across all of those.

With our programming, we strive to strike a balance and make it as diverse as possible. We have a quota of different types of events and communities, and when we don’t see them in the program, we make sure to go out and find them. That includes fundraisers, new people, new collectives, or musicians who’ve never put on an event before, or don’t know how to make the jump to access venues. We also try to create visibility for different political and social causes and minority groups. When we meet weekly for programming, we are always looking to the future, identifying gaps, and being proactive in encouraging them to create.

Considering everything you’ve achieved in such a short time, how is the space different from how you envisioned it?

90mil is the clubhouse of The Palace Collective, which started running residencies in Poland back in 2016. There, we follow a teal organisational structure where people take the initiative to develop their own projects. We brought that approach to 90mil with a general idea of the spaces and art forms we wanted in mind, then waited to see who came forward with motivations to bring their visions to life. 

The creative process in that sense was very much planned, and the way it was executed was beyond my wildest dreams. The exact intention worked, and more. That just goes to show how much Berlin needed a space like this. It’s not that people don’t want to collaborate, it’s that they often don’t have the tools and space to make it possible. If there’s no practice to teach that people can do things differently from how they’re set, then it’s not possible. 

We need to recover the understanding that we have the power to make things happen.

It should be so obvious, but it’s not.

How have you seen temporality and DIY culture, whether consciously or not, affect how people approach collaboration in the creative process?

What’s a shame is the lack of funding for artists and creatives to be paid for development. That sadly means there are a lot of fantastic ideas and initial work done, but the depth and quality of development aren't supported enough. Much of the time, work developed here scratches just the surface of something brilliant, to be actualised only within this timeframe, which is great because those constraints are what initially bring the idea to life. However, the step beyond that is hard to achieve. 

What makes it frustrating is that we would like to offer more resources, and they should be given more resources. While it's incredible that we have this space and can offer it, the reality is that artists are often only able to create work in this space-time capsule, and often without funding. Sadly, that reflects the current state of politics surrounding culture and funding. Newness, in some ways, is so unsupported by institutions and governmental policies that dictate how culture can develop. Institutions don’t want new; they don't want DIY; they want the power to dictate what constitutes culture and who has the tools to build it, and they want that power to remain within the institution.

Nonetheless, there are many examples of people undertaking residencies, then discovering through collaborations that there's something truly worth continuing. Dwam Collective, for instance, is a great example of a group who after doing a 90mil residency have continued to develop work together as a collective. They now run regular multidisciplinary events and showcases at 90mil.

Zaki in Blu Bone’s Hi Cotton, 2023

How does being financially independent from institutions allow more freedom for what you can do?

Both The Palace Residency and 90mil have always been completely independently funded through contributions from community members. We’ve had small pots of funding for specific projects, which have been amazing.

But especially now, considering the political situation, censorship, and funding in Germany—if you’re dependent on funding, you can very suddenly end up stranded. I believe that will only get worse. We plan to find a way to finance the projects and groups that need it sustainably. On a higher level of mutual support, partnerships are always welcome. By showing those with more resources that what we’re doing is worthwhile, their support can trickle down to our networks to fund creatives in their projects, thereby equalising accessibility in the larger social network.  

Something I find exciting about being self-organised is that it’s also up to us to find alternative ways of financing. That’s what mutual aid should be about. We really want to get the message across that there’s so much you can do with the resources you have to work collectively towards more financial independence, and raise money to channel into the things that we care about and want to support. Long-term, when we try to find a future space, something on our minds is how we can become not only a pool of resources but also offer financial means to support projects that aren’t getting funded. 

How does mutual aid manifest in 90mil?

It’s the heart of 90mil, really, and it’s reflected in everything that we do. To us, it means being a network of actionable support. Something we try to normalise is asking for help because it’s another key teaching we’re not used to in this world: saying, “I need help with this,” or “Someone probably knows this better and could support me,” especially because we don’t expect to receive it. Grants, for example, are scarcely accepted.  

In the making” also means embodying the process of unlearning through collaboration over time, knowing that support will come. 

The reality is that people do want to help one another. People do want to create things together. That’s an understanding that’s been taken away from us, not only in the arts, but in most facets of life because of individualist norms in capitalist society. The collaborative creative process here normalises that network of exchange, and vice versa. That process is how you build community. You’re not only achieving your goal, you're also creating relations through collaboration.

It’s a practical love.

And the beautiful and creative thing, because of that, is ideas transforming in ways that you couldn’t have imagined, then suddenly taking on a life of their own. 

The Palace Collective x 90mil Wrestling Show featuring Bianca Stephens and Marilou Pelmont-Beguin

On a simpler level, having a donation entry means that if you can give more, give more. If not, that's fine.  There's still a place for you.

In the bigger picture, that’s what has happened with 90mil since its founding. So many people brought so much to it, and it’s transformed beyond anything we could have imagined—a living, breathing example of mutual aid, the essence of what community should be. It's holistic, a way of living. If you can manage to achieve that, it’s when things start to make sense because there is flow. It all makes sense, like this conversation. 

What does resilience mean to you? How does that play out in the collaborative process?

It follows the same idea of daily practice. 90mil is about inviting people into the daily practice of mutual aid. We aim to be a working, living, and practical example of how we can support one another and build creative networks of support. 

We want to show that when people actively practice it, they're building resilience. Then, it doesn’t matter if the space is gone, because once it's gone, people still have the networks, tools, and understanding to continue that elsewhere. The different communities we’ve worked with, for example, are always looking to the future, thinking about how they might continue what they're doing—whether in a new building with 90mil or somewhere else.

Resilience is what we give to others and the community that continues on to support them, and us, wherever we go in the future.

It’s a taught tool, and at its essence, a political act because we reclaim intrinsic care we have for one another, something in our nature that we’ve been alienated from. Through daily practice, it becomes a reality that people can take with them wherever they go. 

Das Zwischen: Remaining Hopeful in Chaos (2024) funded by Clubcommission, featuring a panel with Nicky Boehm, Yuko Asanuma, Katharin Ahrend, Jamila and NaN

For people not part of 90mil who wish to support you, how can they do so? 

Entry for our events is also by suggested donation. The idea is that people who can pay more do. The festival offers supporter tickets, allowing people with more financial means to help cover the costs for those with less. It’s sometimes a tricky conversation—but understanding through community the varying degrees of people’s situations, recognising our positions within that, and evening out the degrees, whether financially or in other ways. This is key to building resilient communities and spaces.

We also have a donate button on our website.

As your time at this location nears an end, what are the future prospects for 90mil? 

The estimated end date is currently March 2026. We're working to find an alternative location. I can’t say much yet, but definitely—we’re throwing our heart and soul into it. This festival is partly about showing the city that what we’ve done is worthwhile, that this system not only works but is necessary, and that we should be able to continue offering this space to Berlin's cultural landscape.

Cassettehead Sessions, 2024

Can you spill the beans on the end-of-summer goodbye festival? What can the community get excited about?

The festival is extremely exciting. The whole idea is that this is our first festival, and it might be our last. And in case it’s our last, we want it to be fucking good. In the theme of impermanence, many artists are creating unique works for the festival that are specific to the space. The programm for the festival opening Friday night is a 90mil X Dwam showcase, featuring many of the artists who came through this collaboration. It embodies the core of 90mil. Aesthetically, it’s very DIY, super multidisciplinary. You can sense that it’s not just about the end product or the “art”. It’s also deeply about the process, the community, and the intention of working together.  Somehow, that comes through to be very tangible. The DIY context emphasises the process as the main event.

The whole site will be activated with workshops, performances, and strange happenings across all genres and art forms. Blu Bone, an artist who performed very early on in the 90mil journey, is coming over from America with something special—a multidisciplinary hip-hop horror swamp inspired performance in collaboration with local artists. Liaz and The New Love Experience are planning a special show. Abdullah Miniawy will be performing his new work that just premiered at Lost Festival, which as big fans, we are really excited about. 

All the spaces will feature open studios and numerous workshops run by residents and local artists, as well as a full slate of community programming. Everyone’s putting something on—old and new, inside and outside. From life drawing on the roof to witchy stew-making around the fire at midnight, you won’t be bored—that’s for sure. There’s something for everyone, every day.

The Palace Collective x 90mil Wrestling Show featuring Emma Patmore, Oliver Zimmermann and Thea Hope

The broader narrative across the weekend is the themes of impermanence, demolition, resilience, dreams, and looking to the future. To start with, Friday is focused on destruction and DIY impermanence. Saturday is about resilience, solidarity, and joy. Sunday explores wishes for the future, a gentle closing.

The weekend is a celebration, a collective experience that’s truly here, truly now, and never to be repeated. Come down, get involved. In true 90mil fashion, it’s now or never. 


Find more info on the full 90mil festival programm here. Grab your tickets here

Photos courtesy of Ana Torres, Mishka Kornai, and Tamu.