“It was nice but now it’s over” states our “find”, an orange A4 photocopy sheet. The page shows four identical postcard‑sized motifs, each with multilingual farewells running along its lower edge: “Ende – finito – end – fin – ultimo – over…”. They refer to Pelze Multimedia in Schöneberg, a self-organised women’s space that existed from 1981 to 1996 at Potsdamer Strasse 139, in a building occupied by women and lesbian groups. In 2026, its opening in then West Berlin marks its 45th anniversary, and its closure in reunified Berlin its 30th.
In the 1980s, West Berlin stood for squatted houses, anarchic art and queer emergence. Potsdamer Strasse was a hub not only of the squatters’ scene but also of the women’s, lesbian and gay movements: publishing collectives, cafés, the Begine (No. 139), and Eldoradio (No. 131), which broadcast queer radio from 1985 onwards – and, of course, Pelze Multimedia. The former fur shop became a subcultural meeting point for feminist women and lesbian artists and activists – collectively run, minimally furnished in metal and leather, with 5.40-metre ceilings and an oxblood‑coloured linoleum floor scattered with beach sand – very much the 1980s. Pelze hosted experimental art and music, film nights, readings, performances and avant‑garde fashion shows. Elfriede Jelinek read here long before receiving the Nobel Prize; films by Elfi Mikesch, Monika Treut, Barbara Hammer or Joan Jonas screened parallel to the Berlinale, years before the Teddy Award existed.
From 1986, a bar and a women’s darkroom for sex‑positive lesbian desire were added. Workshops, talks and discussions created protected spaces for topics such as BDSM or women and AIDS. The project worked with the media of the time: Polaroid, Super 8, room installations and copy art. Like many Pelze writings, our featured “find” was produced on the in‑house photocopier.
In 1996, public funding was withdrawn and the house association terminated the lease. The last Pelze co‑ordinators cleared out the space and threw the key into the gutter.
Framing our “find”, three black‑and‑white photographs by Heike Overberg form a visual prelude to the exhibition Burning Down the Patriarchy.