In September 2006, RADIALSYSTEM V was opened as a new creative space for the arts in Berlin. Formerly a turn of the century pumping station for the Berlin Wasserwerke (Berlin Water Services), RADIALSYSTEM V – situated in the urban centre of Berlin between Friedrichshain, Mitte and Kreuzberg – currently functions as a cultural centre where new ideas ‘radiate’ out in all directions, attracting artists and the public from within as well as beyond the city limits of Berlin.

Named after the Soviet writer, Maxim Gorky, the theater is the smallest of Berlin’s municipal theatres, housed in the former Choral Academy on the central avenue Unter den Linden. The theatre was built in 1827 from Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s designs as the first public concert hall in Berlin. After its total destruction in the Second World War, the reconstructed theatre reopened in 1952 as the Maxim Gorki Theatre and became the most important venue for contemporary theatre in the GDR. Shermin Langhoff and Jens Hillje have taken over the artistic directorship of the Maxim Gorki Theatre from the 2013/14 season, and are committed to maintaining the house’s history as site for political critique. The theater runs a number of projects that deal with the topics of cultural and political conflicts: the theater ensemble presents critical plays; the Studio Я serves as a space for the exchange of ideas that question the ways of the society; the Gorki X is an outreach program with educational purposes; and the Gorki Forum creates a platform for democratic discourse.

Established in 2006 by the directors Uwe Moritz Eichler, Philipp Reuter and the performer Anne Tismer, since 2011 the house has been managed by Daniel Schrader and Tina Pfurr. Located in the former assembly hall of the Freireligiöse Gemeinde zu Berlin, it holds up its original values by offering a cooperative venue for groups and artists from all sectors of the performing arts. It is known for providing a space where the most diverse forms of contemporary theater and radical new ways of artistic exploration can be found, from both well-known artists as well as those still without a name.