What makes the Muffathalle so darn popular
“Cross-culture, avant-garde, camp, synergy between high-brow and low-brow culture, trend setting, contemporary culture”—these popular buzz words found in the Feuilletons (the culture sections in German newspapers) these days may strike the reader as a tad flowery when used to describe Munich’s seemingly staid, traditional cultural scene. However, the exception proves the rule, and the City of Munich can proudly boast of its truly grand exception: the Muffathalle.Home to concerts, dance performances and many special events, the Muffathalle is an elegant and historically fascinating venue. Built in the Art Nouveau style in 1894 and named after the Bavarian historian Karl August Muffat (1804–1878), the edifice was Munich’s first steam generation plant. This architectural gem, which can be readily identified from afar on account of its chimney, today the symbol of the Muffathalle, is a listed building. After the plant closed, the hall was temporarily used as a tennis facility. In 1990, the Munich city council decided to use the property, with its advantageous location next to the Müllersches Volksbad and across the street from the Gasteig center, for cultural purposes. The hall was renovated within two years at a cost of € 3.5 million. Despite the exceptionally strict preservation laws pertaining to listed buildings, architects succeeded in transforming the building into a multifunctional cultural center. Today, the Muffathalle is considered one of Germany’s most beautiful centers of the arts, offering a multifarious program that attracts audiences of all ages.
A public-private partnership between Muffathalle promoters—now seen as cultural pioneers—and the Munich Kulturreferat (cultural administration) sustain the hall’s diverse program. The City of Munich pays the Muffathalle’s operating costs and, in turn, uses the venue for approximately 100 days a year for its own cultural projects. The rest of the program is organized by the Muffathalle at their own financial risk. It is a cooperation that has proved to be fruitful, one that has resulted in such successful annual events as the Munich Biennale, a festival of contemporary music theater (April 26–May 11), Dance, die Tanzwerkstatt Europa (spring 2002), musica viva, a festival celebrating contemporary classical music (June 2002) and the international theater festival SpielArt (2003), to name but a few. One of the Muffathalle’s main goals is to stimulate creative friction between popular events and experimental art projects. Such illustrious authors as Salman Rushdie, Douglas Coupland or T.C. Boyle may give a reading on one night and, on the next, a forum for an avant-garde art performance may be scheduled. Part of the promoters’ concept is to provide a forum for new media in the arts.
The organizers strive to set Munich’s cultural trends and to bridge the gap between art and science—an interaction that has become more important over the past few years. The monthly event Metabolics deals with the political, social and cultural dimensions of the “information society” by introducing current projects and discussions on Web culture. By no means playing a minor role, Muffathalle’s weekly club music nights form the solid base upon which the hall’s program stands. These attract European-wide interest: when, in 1991, Seattle-based grunge band Nirvana brought the music genre to its peak, Muffathalle visionaries anticipated the bright future of electronic music and gave three young DJs the opportunity to launch a club night featuring NuJazz, Funk and Rare Groove. Into Somethin’ just celebrated its tenth anniversary and is ready for its next triumphant decade of electronic beats. The organizers also foresaw the power of hip hip and were the first in Munich to offer club nights featuring the modern music genre (Leddariddemhiddya, now every fourth Saturday of the month). Jamaican music can be sampled every Tuesday, when the Kingston Club plays.
Though the Muffathalle’s intent is to reflect the lifestyles of urban youth, the venue is not limited to the “young and hip” crowd. In fact, it offers a forum for music of all genres, contemporary dance projects, unconventional theater performances, pop and avant-garde readings and innumerable cross-culture events, not to forget the screening of important soccer games. The venue has set high standards for Munich. Residents may rest assured that its organizers will not divert their gaze to the future’s next cultural trend—making the center the utopia of which Feuilleton journalists dream!
This month’s highlights: Feb. 3: Slide show by Michael Martin 11 am Iceland; 1 pm Scandinavia; 3 pm Amazonas; 5:30 pm Australia; 8 pm Southern Arabia; Feb. 10: Deutsches Theater; Reading by German pop author Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre; Feb. 11: Beatlemania; Feb. 14, 15: Hoi, avant-garde theater performance; Feb. 20, 22: Raimund Hoghe’s Meinwärts, dance performance
