Fat Cat cultural project faces closure as artists move out

The Fat Cat temporary cultural project in Munich’s former Gasteig cultural centre is coming to an end after three years, BR reported. Nearly 1,000 cultural workers must leave their studios, workshops, rehearsal rooms and halls by the end of October.

More than half of the tenants have already moved out. Architect Enrica Ferruci, who works with children and young people on building culture, cities and climate, said she had not found an alternative space and would move her work back home.

“I’m slowly starting to feel really alone here, because whenever someone comes around the corner, I get startled,” Ferruci said. “I won’t find an affordable space like this, where I can develop my work and join a network with other artists, anywhere in Munich anytime soon. That is very sad and very frustrating.”

Rents at Fat Cat started at 12 euros per square metre, while standard commercial space in Munich is unaffordable for Ferruci.

More than 200 creative spaces

The project began three years ago, converting former seminar rooms, offices and halls at the Gasteig into more than 200 studios, workshops and rehearsal rooms. Its aim was to prevent the building from standing empty until renovation work began.

Although it was clear from the outset that Fat Cat was a temporary arrangement, tenants are finding it difficult to leave. Project manager Tobias Friedel, who has spent three years running the operation and solving problems, is now organising the move while preparing to leave himself. The Fat Cat team will be dissolved at the end of October.

Friedel said the project had shown how much could be achieved with limited financial resources and small teams. Decisions could be made in the moment, he said, bringing musicians and theatre-makers together to create something new.

A network that cannot be packed up

For Benjamin Domnick, the move is more complicated than carrying away a musical instrument. His team builds neighbourhood meeting places such as parklets and outdoor seating areas, and is relocating a woodworking workshop that had been spread across 200 square metres.

Domnick has found new workshop space and is even expanding to more than 400 square metres. But he said the move would mean losing something that could not simply be loaded onto a truck: the opportunity for many people to meet in one place who otherwise might never have crossed paths.

What remains from Fat Cat is the experience of a lasting network emerging from a project that was intended only as a temporary solution.