With Volksbad, Rosa Luxemburg Platz tips out of theatre mode for one summer and becomes a half public bathing zone. Where premiere audiences usually smoke in black, wet bodies now stand in swimwear: bathing caps instead of berets, towels over shoulders instead of scarves, chlorine damp skin in front of the monumental, socialist facade of the Volksbuehne.
The 25 metre lane cuts across a square that has long been read as an ideological concrete block. Now there is water there, and it smells like an outdoor pool and summer instead of discourse and rehearsal schedules. Volksbad Volksbuehne Berlin shifts gazes, shame lines and axes of desire in a place that never asked to be gentle.The pool also arrives with a new signature. Matthias Lilienthal, the new Intendant of the Volksbuehne, is opening the house toward the square in a very physical way. Instead of only inviting the city into the auditorium, he pushes the theatre out onto the asphalt: as water, as skin, as a summer body under the socialist facade. That gesture matters, because it decides what kind of public the Volksbuehne wants to be in this new era.
A Pool on a Square That Was Never Meant to Be Gentle
Who dares to stand in wet lycra on this square, which has seen protest, premieres and political statements, and now sees your swimwear? Who unrolls the towel and says: this is also my urban space, my body, my summer? And who stays in jeans and a T shirt at the edge, sunglasses as a shield, gaze half curious, half annoyed?
Between deck chair and theatre facade, the roles shift. Those who usually sit in the auditorium become the backdrop for those who step into the water. Volksbad Volksbuehne Berlin is not just a pool. It is a small choreography of who watches whom, and who agrees to be watched.
Queer Bodies, Kink Codes and the Question of Who Actually Shows Up
The interesting question is whether queer and kinky communities really occupy this space, as a place for other body norms, other swimwear, other kinds of closeness, or whether the pool ends up as a nice piece of city marketing.
Whether trans bodies, fat bodies, hairy chests, non binary swim outfits and fetish codes woven into fabric appear here, the kind of presence that pool edges in this city more often tolerate than celebrate. Or whether the same bathing order rules as in every other outdoor pool: heteronormative, family friendly, Instagram compatible, not too much skin, not too much otherness.
Volksbad, Volkskoerper or Just a Nicer Backdrop
Between outdoor pool romance, safety discourse and Instagram aesthetics, this is where Volksbad decides whether it really means Volkskoerper or just delivers a new backdrop.
Whether this pool in front of the Volksbuehne is a real test of how far Berlin is willing to go with its bodies, or only a temporary filter that soft focuses the city for eight summer weeks before the concrete takes over again.
Matthias Lilienthal has spent his career opening theatres toward the city rather than the other way around. If Volksbad is a first sign of what his Volksbuehne wants to be, then queer, kinky and non normative Berlin should show up early and visibly, and treat this pool as an invitation to co author what the next years of this house look like.
Before you mark your calendar: always double-check dates, location, and ticket info directly with the organizers.
Even the best promises come with fine print.