we are the kotti kids
what: exhibition, workshop
where: berlin, germany
when: 2018
Kottbusser Tor is usually perceived in public media and by many Berliners primarily as a transit space or, more often, as a “problem location.” Discourses around drugs, tourism, and security dominate. What is largely missing in this narrative is the perspective of those who actually live there. It remains almost invisible that more than 2,000 people call Kottbusser Tor home: they sleep here, wake up here, raise children, go to school, and organize their everyday lives.
This lack of representation is particularly striking with regard to children and young people. Although they actively use, appropriate, and experience the space on a daily basis, their perspectives are rarely visible in debates about urban development. Participation is often discussed abstractly, while the lived knowledge of young residents remains unheard and excluded from processes that shape their immediate environment.
The exhibition “Wir sind die Kinder vom Kotti” (“We Are the Children of Kotti”) seeks to counter these dominant narratives by making children visible as part of the urban public. It highlights Kottbusser Tor as a lived space shaped by many different childhoods and stories. How do children perceive Kottbusser Tor? What matters to them? What are their wishes for the place where they grow up?
These questions were explored together with the art class of grade 5b at Jens-Nydahl Primary School. Through drawing and visual expression, children articulated their views of Kottbusser Tor and claimed visibility in a discourse that usually overlooks them. The resulting exhibition of drawings was presented in the public space of the subway station Kottbusser Tor (U1), with the support of BVG. By situating children’s perspectives directly within the urban infrastructure, the project frames participation not as consultation, but as a visible and legitimate contribution to the ongoing negotiation of the city.