The Freie Klasse Project started in 1989 with Students of the Berlin University of the arts organizing their education autonomously, as an alternative to the regular class system.
Organizing seminars, discussions and exhibitions the Freie Klasse became known for their ambition to reshape the institution and establish a collaborative and political approach towards art practise. After major demands, forming the political agenda of the Freie Klasse, were realized by the University almost ten years after the inception, the motivation of the participants started to weaken: In 1999 the platform of the class -the studio in the main building- was taken and the class fell apart. Since then, only some activities, carried out by different individuals, remained of the possibilities of independent study at the University.
When we discussed the current situation of art education in Germany, during the student protests in 2003 the Freie Klasse as a self-institution once again came to mind as a tool to discuss very basic and general political ideas within the University and intervene in this specific social reality. We asked ourselves if we could reactivate the promise of an alternative, which was connected, to the term Freie Klasse and use it to continue the discussions of the student protests and connect them with ideas and thoughts in the field of art and culture. We took up what was left of the assets of the old Freie Klasse started working collaboratively, organizing a different form knowledge production. In the process we developed the idea to create a space that should not be governed by the institutionalized authorities.
A self determined and independent space to exchange ideas did not exist at that time in the University and our aim was to research if such a space was still needed at all. On the contrary we thought it to be important to actually experience how such a space would look and feel like in reality.
Our proposition was to organize a temporary project, that would be very visible in the University for a limited time during the summer, rather than to reinstitutionalise us into yet another structure. We started to invite many students into a temporary working group that was open to anybody and would be structured around the aims of a temporary project. With this eruptive strategy, we sought to avoid some of the exclusiveness that characterized previous attempts to develop an independent project within this institution.
