About Bergson
With the Bergson Kunstkraftwerk, Munich has a new home for culture and a host for audiences, cooperation partners and creatives. Everyone is welcome here and has direct access to cultural experiences and culinary delights - for all ages and social groups and across all genres and scenes.
History
The neglected ruin should become a cultural hotspot, a place of inspiration and encounter! It should be loud, colorful, creative and artistic. The whole city can now draw new cultural energy from the former heating plant, which is over 100 years old.
Review
1920
An unknown architect draws up the plans for the iconic building of the combined heat and power plant. At the time, it was still completely unclear where it would be located and if and when it would be built. The plans probably end up in a drawer.
1937
The Reichsbahndirektion München decides to build it as part of the "Munich East-West Axis" project, a gigantic construction project which, among other things, aimed to relocate Munich's main railway station to the west. A combined heat and power plant was needed for this and was found in the aforementioned drawer.
From 1940
The building is created as an interplay of reinforced concrete supporting structure, industrial bricks and classicist elements.
1942
The war halts the building project, which is only half completed. Large parts of the complex have not yet been built, only the cube we know today stands.
Around 1955
Deutsche Bahn makes the cube usable. It now functions as a heating plant, supplying heat instead of electricity.
From the early 80s
The heating plant is shut down and becomes a "lost place". Munich's youth discover it as a location for illegal techno raves. There is water in the cellar, so people go rubber dinghy rafting in summer and ice skating in winter.
2005
The Munich-based family business Allguth acquires the largely dilapidated building with 20,000 square meters of land.
2007
The former heating plant becomes a listed building.
2015
The architectural firm Stenger2 is commissioned with the planning for the conversion of the site. In addition to the renovation of the heating plant, including the redesign of the interior, a new building is planned next door.
2016
The highly endangered pug bat has its winter quarters in the basement. To keep it that way, a habitat of almost 70 square meters with a fresh air supply and water is set up. An environmental prize is awarded for this and the pug bat is a permanent resident.
2019
Now that various usage scenarios for the building have been considered, the content plans are also taking shape. And the name has been found: Bergson Kunstkraftwerk. Initial conversion work is carried out, the old blast furnaces are removed and the biotope is created.
2021
Construction of a multifunctional cultural venue for events, concerts and culinary delights begins, with Germany's largest gallery for fine art in terms of space, a state-of-the-art concert hall, restaurant, bars and beer garden.
July 2023
The Bergson celebrates its topping-out ceremony and the pop-up in Munich City Hall opens. As a showcase for the Bergson Kunstkraftwerk, which is currently being renovated, people get a multi-faceted foretaste of what awaits them at the Bergson Kunstkraftwerk in Aubing from April 2024: Music, diverse gastronomy, visual arts - in short: a new cultural home.
April 2024
The former heating plant is opened to the public with an inaugural cascade following its renovation. The first concerts by the Jazzrausch big band and guest performances as well as art exhibitions take place, and the restaurant and day bar can be visited.
October 2024
On 9 October, the Elektra Tonquartier concert hall opens with a "big bang" This "big bang" opens the entire Bergson Kunstkraftwerk, which sees itself as a cultural center of gravity, to the public. From then on, visitors will be able to experience a diverse program in Germany's most sonically innovative concert hall.