In the dispute over the private art gallery in Berlin's closed Tempelhof Airport, the initiator and cultural manager Walter Smerling has now spoken in the "Tagesspiegel".

Smerling's "Foundation for Art and Culture e.

V.” opened the “Diversity United” exhibition at Tempelhof Airport in the summer, which is currently on tour in Moscow.

As the FAZ reported, Smerling will be able to use the Berlin halls rent-free with his private association for the next two years as well.

The initiator was also criticized by the Berlin Senate, after research by the FAZ Berlin not only made the hangars available to the Bonn association free of charge, but also agreed to pay half the operating costs - in two years up to 2.4 million euros – to take over.

More and more artists

The former Governing Mayor Michael Müller offered him to continue using the two hangars after the end of the exhibition, Smerling now justifies himself in the “Tagesspiegel”.

“I offered to develop a concept and suggested that he realize exhibitions in Hangar 2+3 over the next two years, for which the Senate does not have to pay anything.

In return, we asked to be able to rent the halls and use them free of charge.

When it was said that we had to contribute 50 percent to the additional costs, we agreed.” The contract states that up to 100,000 euros could be incurred, but they kept the operating costs low, claims Smerling.

Asked about the patron of Diversity United, Vladimir Putin, Smerling states that when they started the project three years ago, "no one suspected"

how the situation with Russia would develop.

"We also seek dialogue with those with whom we do not agree," says the culture manager, who also sees no problem if one of the main supporters of the "Kunsthalle", real estate investor Christoph Gröner, subsequently speaks in a TV interview before the Tempelhof Airport boasts and speaks of "art as a door opener".

"The fact is, it takes an intelligent combination of culture and business to be able to show art publicly," said Walter Smerling.

then boasts in a TV interview in front of Tempelhof Airport and speaks of "art as a door opener".

"The fact is, it takes an intelligent combination of culture and business to be able to show art publicly," said Walter Smerling.

then boasts in a TV interview in front of Tempelhof Airport and speaks of "art as a door opener".

"The fact is, it takes an intelligent combination of culture and business to be able to show art publicly," said Walter Smerling.

In a letter of protest on Thursday, the artists Hito Steyerl, Jörg Heiser and Clemens von Wedemeyer wrote to the Berlin Senator for Culture Klaus Lederer (Die Linke), the Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD), the Governing Mayor aD Michael Müller (SPD), the members of the supervisory board of the Senate's own Tempelhof Projekt GmbH, the Berlin Court of Auditors, the Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Die Grünen) and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), who acted as patron of the exhibition "Diversity United" at Tempelhof Airport.

"We are writing to you because we are alarmed that the city of Berlin and its officials are unnecessarily offering the spatial and financial support of a so-called 'Art Hall Berlin' from private associations, companies and people around the ,

Kulturmanager' Walter Smerling let it be used as an instrument," says the open letter, which was distributed via the E-Flux platform, among other things.

It has now been signed by numerous protagonists of the art world - including the artists Maria Eichhorn, Natascha Sadr Haghighian and Rosa Barba, the artist and curator Kader Attia and institutional leaders such as Krist Gruijthuijsen (KW Berlin), Bettina Steinbrügge (Hamburger Kunstverein/Mudam Luxemburg) and Kathrin Becker (Kindl Center Berlin).

The authors want to get the rooms returned and demand that the subsidies from public funds be ended immediately.

It has now been signed by numerous protagonists of the art world - including the artists Maria Eichhorn, Natascha Sadr Haghighian and Rosa Barba, the artist and curator Kader Attia and institutional leaders such as Krist Gruijthuijsen (KW Berlin), Bettina Steinbrügge (Hamburger Kunstverein/Mudam Luxemburg) and Kathrin Becker (Kindl Center Berlin).

The authors want to get the rooms returned and demand that the subsidies from public funds be ended immediately.

It has now been signed by numerous protagonists of the art world - including the artists Maria Eichhorn, Natascha Sadr Haghighian and Rosa Barba, the artist and curator Kader Attia and institutional leaders such as Krist Gruijthuijsen (KW Berlin), Bettina Steinbrügge (Hamburger Kunstverein/Mudam Luxemburg) and Kathrin Becker (Kindl Center Berlin).

The authors want to get the rooms returned and demand that the subsidies from public funds be ended immediately.