More than loved and celebrated sticker family,

what's coming now is on one side one of the hardest things I ever had to decide and on the other side it feels like a liberation and a new chance...

After 14,5 years, three locations and an intergalactic bunch of fun, the Stickermuseum will close in its original form !
The Sticker Museum was never intended as an idea to become a millionaire since its launch in 2008 ! It was about the endless love for the sticker medium which stayed so till today.
But what is also clear is that the museum has brought me very often in quite the opposite of becoming rich which means, in very bad and nerve destroying financial situations.
Of course, it has always been more than worth to fight for the sticker palace and to sell a lot of private stuff for it. In addition to that, you have always motivated and supported me with your sticker donations and orders !!!
But since the Corona time, the financial as well as my view of things has changed in another, more serious direction...
 
After the brutal Corona time with lockdown, loss of tourism and orders reduction, I had, even if a lot of marvelous help came from your side again, no other choice than to change from my previous mini-job to a part-time job to be able to cover the losses and the running museum costs and honestly said, such a fixed income with paid health insurance and elimination of monthly fears is very sexy...
Parallel to the new job, I have been very intensively thinking about the way of the museum from its beginnings until today and the parallel development of the Berlin art and subculture world...
And unfortunately I had to realize that what I experience is far away from being a big fiesta...

It is unfortunately a fact, not only in Berlin but worldwide, that modern turbo-capitalism, the associated constantly growing blind greed for money and a completely failing political structure controlled by lobbyists destroys and erases any space for individualism and diversity.
And that happens from my point of view, very clearly in the free art, - and culture world.
Others who were earlier active in Berlin will probably have sadder stories to tell... But just when I remember my time in Berlin from the year 2000 and the time of the start of the museum in 2008...
The city was so full of small, endlessly energetic urban art galleries and art projects, all run by great artists and creative makers with full enthusiasm and every week we met like a family at someone's place for an exhibition, party, art event or simply for a talk !
And each of us supported the other wherever he could !!!
Yes, we were a family that electrified Berlin so stylishly...
It's clear that things always change, move on and not everything can always stay as it once was...
But that this scene gets killed completely without reflecting what they are killing is a kind of shock and in fact, it hurts...

Now I was actually one of the last, if not the last naive one who tries to keep a subcultural project alive with monthly costs and expenses without any grants or municipal support...
And then came the energy crisis and inflation...
And this at a time when I had not even managed to pay off all Corona debts...

And when I put all of the above blah together, I come to the conclusion to close the Sticker Museum as an permanently present institution and go a new way...
For all of you who may have been happy about... I do not intend to disappear completely as I love the sticker world and culture far too much !!!
Therefore, from now on, I will continue to follow what I have fortunately already been able to enjoy through brilliant contacts...
Hatch will concentrate from 2023, completely on temporary local exhibitions and abroad !
These can then be sometimes thematic, sometimes for charity, sometimes interactive, sometimes retrospective and sometimes something completely different...
And honestly... This new way of being present with all its flexible possibilities doesn't feel that bad at all !!!
So from now on I'm no longer the Stickermuseum but the Stickermuseum Studio in the previous rooms and I'll continue to do my part-time job to enjoy a good, stable income while giving as always my best to push our beloved art forward and give her the status it deserves !!!
So sticker donations, orders, exhibition locations and any other kind of ideas and help is still more than lovely welcome : )

In the new Sticker Museum Studio you will still be able to see quite a large exhibition of stickers. There will be stickers available for sale and you will be in directly in touch with the entire 35 years of sticker collection and all the related collection and exhibition work.
The opening hours of the studio will be irregular but will always be announced as early as possible on Instagram and Facebook !

A possible highlight for sticker collectors and rarities hunters will be that I will offer some treasures from my double collection for sale to be able to better secure the rent and additional costs situation...

Sorry it came like this, let's make the best of it and emotional sticky heart thanks to all,
El Hatcho