We’re back ! The legendary XLt Subkultur Tours are taking reservations again. The sun + springtime are back, and WW3 appears to be postponed, at least for now.
What is an XLterrestrials Tour ?!
We take you on a guided walk through the Spandauer Vorstadt aka Mitte district, specifically the area around Monbijou Park, and parts of what was also known as the Scheunenviertel. Duration: About 1.5 to 2 hours.
Why ?!
The future is unwritten, but the present tends to steadily drift toward becoming a global-scale shitstorm ruled by Techlords, Goblins, Krapitalist Vortex-eaters, Orange Sphincters and other useless Cretins.
But we - the dreaming XLT aliens - have come back to earth to demonstrate that all is not lost. There’s still time to rebuild the Kiez ( neighborhood and/or community, to explain briefly ) and to defend it from the brutality and entropy of manufactured soullessness !
It’s a complex and hard-hitting investigation, but thoroughly entertaining, and possibly even educational. A “tactical” tour whereby we share extraordinary tales + diverse multi-kulti perspectives of the city, in order to learn from history, and - with a little effort - stop repeating it ! There really is another possible world, and we will have to collectively create it ! *
When ?!
Every Sunday, Monday and Wednesday - in MAY - at 17:00h
And now extending into JUNE + JULY and maybe AUGUST !
How?!
Reserve a date ! Send us an email, and we share with you the details ( like where we meet for the tours ) and we will confirm your reservation … or we will suggest another date, if the one you chose is already full…
And we’ll even send you a FREE pirate map !
Write to: ib_podo (at ) proton ( dot ) me
Note: This is not a scam ! We are community-friendly aliens ( think : intergalactic solidarity ), who want to inspire you to decolonize your lives and our shared planet, and to co-create a better habitat with all your neighbors and friends ! We will not use your email for any other purpose. We are NOT the corporate krapitalist lowlife that invented the plundering of data for ill-gains, and who are now endangering all our futures !
An example of one of the many stories / topics we share is the displacement of arts+culture spaces and the people who built their livelihoods in them. This has of course been occurring AGAIN in the Mitte district for the last 30+ years. These are the gentrification and/or colonialist processes inherent in those deranged and unjust krapitalist operating systems. ( We really can do economic systems differently, but that’s not something we’ll get too deep into now ).
There once was a beautiful circus theater - Circus Busch - on the edge of Monbijou Park ( actually the part now called James Simon Park across from the MuseumInsel ). But this was destroyed ( demolished ) by the national socialists / fascists back in 1935/36 to prepare the city for the Berlin Olympics. And we are still researching about the people who used to work and/or perform there. It was/is a Danish owned business, but there were surely a lot of migrant workers involved. And the point is to share some history and perspectives, that might be useful in protecting our cities, saving our livelihoods, and taking better care of the diversity of cultures and social well-being of all, NOW !
For example, the insane news is that the city of Berlin is bidding for the Olympics AGAIN ! For the 100th anniversary of 1936. This is sadly not a rumor, and not a joke ! As you might already know, bringing the Olympics to a city these days, is like turning up the dial on ( racist ) gentrification to 11, 11111, 1111111 ! This would be devastating to all the neighborhoods where the people creating the subkultur are still active.
What Is To Be Done ?!
Organize! Mobilize! Resist ! etc, etc.
And of course, come take our XLT Subkult Tour… so we can strategize + brainstorm together !
Note: yep, Houdini actually performed at the Circus Busch Theater. He also jumped into the river Spree fully shackled, and as you might expect, liberated himself from his chains. Perhaps there’s some lessons here. Or perhaps this just a silly, but true anecdote. We’ll go through our notes, and try an unveil the better stories that might be of use for our current predicaments.
Much much more to say, but we’re on the run… perhaps we’ll come back to this post to add a few more examples and images to entice you !
Also note, there’s many important stories that we are in the process of writing about. But we need your support to be able to invest the time to do this work. We don’t put articles behind a paywall, so if you would like to support us, write to the contact above, and ask how you can donate ( or contribute ). OR come for a tour and donate to the XLterrestrials in person. Btw, TOURS are also currently by donation. In other words, no one turned away for lack of funds !
Note: Please view this post in your browser, so you will see all the beautiful updates, additions and/or edits ;)
Want To Go Deeper ?!
Here’s a bunch of other stories / essays we’ve written about the XLT Tours, which is a collaborative + evolving Work-in-Progress:
Lebensraum, Iron Domes and Glass Houses ...
We’re working on some new imagery to promote our re-launching of the XLt Subkultur Tours this spring, now ! A performative psychogeographical guided walking tour of the Btropolis Mitte district. The picture above is just a sketch-collage, a template for new posters and flyers. The original fotos include a picture of the
Living in the Ruins, Transmolecularized* !
For those of you who lived in Btropolis in the 90s you might vaguely recognize this interior of the Friedrichstraßenpassage + Kaufhaus which was to become the legendary and thriving chaos laboratory that became known as the Kunsthaus Tacheles (1990-1012 ). A spectacular photograph by
The XLt Subkultur Tour v.2
Foto: Those of you who know the Mitte district in the Btropolis might be a bit shocked to see this majestic Circus Busch Theater on the Spree across from the Alte Nationalgalerie. We only recently discovered its former existence while hunting for information about
Memory Culture On The Chopping Block !
This is all that’s currently left of the historical documentation of the legendary Kunsthaus Tacheles ( 1990-2012 ) and the Friedrichstraßenpassage ( built in 1907 ) in the center of Btropolis, Mitte district.
Anarcho-Alien Psychogeographic Tours of Btropolis Mitte
“The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.” — David Graeber, The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy ( 2015 )