The URBAN NATION MUSEUM FOR URBAN CONTEMPORARY ART is an international institution for artists and projects that enriches Berlin’s cultural landscape since September 16th, 2017. The overall focus is to support young urban contemporary artist. Since 2013, URBAN NATION invites local and international artists and curators to design urban spaces with the theme „Connect.Create.Care.“ generating inspirational exchange of ideas between established and emerging artists. The URBAN NATION MUSEUM is a place for exchange, community and functions as well as an archive. URBAN NATION is part of the non-profit foundation Berliner Leben. The lead agency for branding and communication of URBAN NATION and URBAN NATION MUSEUM FOR CONTEMPORARY ART ist he creative agency spring brand ideas founded by Marion Heine and Levent Akinci.
URBAN NATION revolutionizes the classical concept of a museum. It doesn’t restrict itself to the museum space and rather uses urban spaces as part of the curation. A holistic place making/branding concept with interactive workshops, as well as various educational projects, connects the neighbourhood, the residents and art lovers with each other. Yasha Young, curator and museum director, has the vision to create a non-commercial, independent home for a unique art form that was born on the streets: URBAN NATION. This vision became reality in September 2017 with the exhibition „UNique. UNited. UNstoppable.“ The heart of the brand URBAN NATION is displayed by the leitmotif „Connect. Create. Care.“. Since the beginning of this initiative four years ago, URBAN NATION has supported, connected, inspired and taught artists and offered a common platform for exchange. Famous urban artists like Shepard Fairey, Invader or Jef Aeresol meet young artists. Curated by Yasha Young, 300 local and international artists realized their projects for URBAN NATION in the past few years. In 2015, URBAN NATION anounced the plan for building a museum. From this moment until the opening day in September 2017, the goal was to reach as many people as possible with the communication and introduce them to the diversity of Urban Contemporary Art. In September 2017, the opening took place with the slogan „The impossible museum becomes reality/ Das Museum, das es gar nicht geben dürfte“. Since 2013, Marion Heine has supervised the brand URBAN NATION. From 2016 until now, she was involved in URBAN NATION as COO of spring brand ideas. A brand-, content- and communication strategy was developed for the launch of the URBAN NATION initiative in 2013, as well as the communicative launch of the museum, the groundbreaking in 2015 and the opening of the museum in 2017. The look, the brand value and the first appearance of the future brand had to be developed in a moment where the whole project was only still a vision. A teaser, a website, movies and an image brochure were the first communication tools to reach out to the sponsors and donators for URBAN NATION. The inspiration for the logo and the corporate design came from the artworks of urban artists and the facade of the museum – a typical berlin „Gründerzeit“ house. The well known architectural office GRAFT was responsible for the renovation of the building and the unique facade. Marion Heine and her team focused on authentic storytelling and networking to give credit to the artists and their artwork. The goal was to integrate them and their work with high sensitivity into the communication strategy of URBAN NATION. On an eye to eye level they became a multiplying factor in the global network of Urban Art. Some of the social media posts about URBAN NATION counted two to three million viewers. For more information visit us on our website www.urban-nation.com, or on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
