District Council orders the repainting of the exterior facade of Happy Go Lucky Hotel & Hostel

The game revolving around the removal of the advertising lettering „HappyGoLuckyHearts“ of Berlin’s Happy Go Lucky Hotel & Hostel continues. Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf District Council demands that the owner remove the colorful facade in the upcoming days. Alexander Skora now turns to the public. At www.happygoluckyhearts.com, Berlin residents and Berlin enthusiasts can now comment on the facade.

Even though in the last year, it was decided in a personal meeting between Alexander Skora and the former City Councilor for Urban Affairs, Marc Schulte (SPD), to let the matter rest if the facade was regularly maintained. This was also agreed in a conversation a few months ago with the newly-elected district councilor of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Oliver Schruoffeneger (Green Party). He also confirmed that he personally found the facade very typical of Berlin. Now, the outer facade is suddenly to be very quickly painted over in white.

„Art is alive and lives by change. However, they would like to force us to allow this work of art and its preservation as a public-regulated building to be registered in the land registry. We would then have to bear the costs of assessors who can evaluate the condition of the color every few years and let the work be commissioned at our own expense,“ explains Alexander Skora. „We would therefore be prevented from making the facade available as a canvas to other artists or to Dom Browne again in the future.“

Such a registration means that the outer facade must not be altered. In addition, it would have to be renewed every few years and would be subject to constant scrutiny by the District Council. In order to meet Schruoffeneger’s demand, Skora asked the District Council whether it would pay for the costs of maintenance in the future.

„However, the Council rejects this and, in a 180-degree turn which is already bordering on schizophrenia, once again resumes, like a sulking child, the „removal of unauthorized advertising lettering“ instead,“ the owner declares.

In a personal letter, City Councilor Schruoffeneger now requests Alexander Skora to paint over the entire facade within 10 working days. True to the motto: „If you don’t play according to my rules, then don’t play at all.“

Alexander Skora does not want to accept such confusing behavior and is now mobilizing the public, who has been discussing the facade all over the Internet for some time. On the website, www.happygoluckyhearts.com, Berlin residents and visitors to Berlin can express what the colorfully-painted facade by the Irish artist Dom Browne means to them personally.

„We would like to ask the people how they feel about the facade and start a public discussion on this topic,“ says Skora. „For us, the artwork of Dom Browne is an expression of Berlin’s attitude towards life: colorful, joyous, and free.“ Under the motto „Bringing Brightness to Berlin’s BureaucraZy“, Skora is also committed to pointing out the arbitrariness of the Berlin authorities with red-red-green.

In the special edition of the Berlin cult magazine ZITTY, a photograph of the Happy Go Lucky Hotel and Hostel appeared as a symbol of freedom in Berlin. Recorded by a reader, for whom the Berlin hostel stands for worldliness, tolerance, and the feeling of freedom shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

In addition, Skora will file a complaint with the Administrative Court against the notificaton, in order to be able to eliminate the implementation of the order in the long term.

Merken

Merken

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