The Floor: building an artist-run space in Berlin
The Floor is a physical extension of the Countercult network: a studio, project space, coliving experiment, residency home, and place for people to meet around unfinished work.
“48 hours ago I was in one of the epicenters of creativity in the world, Neukölln, Berlin, where I launched a physical space expansion of what I’ve been building over the years with my art career.”
Shona Neary in the Shona-authored Countercult Substack post “Artist boots on the ground connecting culture in Africa, Europe, Asia and soon the U.S.”, published 27 January 2026. Punctuation has been lightly corrected for readability.
Make room for the work before the outcome
Artist-run spaces are useful because they do not need every encounter to arrive pre-packaged. A studio can hold a conversation, a residency, a salon dinner, an experiment for first-time collectors, or a work that is not ready to be presented.
The Floor grew from that need for physical connection. It gives the Countercult network somewhere to gather and gives artists a context in which the practice can be seen as more than a profile or a finished image.
Residency, coliving, and social infrastructure
People working across borders need more than accommodation. They need time, shared references, local introductions, and a way to contribute to a place without pretending to own it. The Floor treats these as connected design questions.
Why collectors and partners should care
For collectors, an artist-run setting can make discovery less intimidating and more human. For cultural organizations, tourism teams, governments, and brands, it demonstrates why local creative infrastructure deserves support before an activation is planned.
Looking for an artist-run setting or cultural partner in Berlin?
Contact Shona about The Floor, residencies, cultural strategy, and Studio projects.
Adapted from Countercult’s public LinkedIn post about The Floor and Shona’s post about first-time collectors.
This piece was informed by Shona Neary’s writing, conversations, and thinking around independent culture, artists, and place.
editorial process: Our Journals are pulled from our writings over the years to get information out as quickly and as widely as possible, and to get to what matters: finding each other and claiming our seat in the circular economy. Some ideas overlap between Shona Neary's work on cultural infrastructure and their artist practice as Sketchy Shona. AI is a tool for infrastructure, not for creating Journal writing or artists' work. We welcome original reporting and pitches from journalists and independent publishers.