The idea of the salon as a privately organised cultural meeting place dates back to the 17th century and was initially predominantly female.
In the European metropolises of Berlin, Vienna, Paris and Florence, an illustrious circle of society met to exchange political and cultural ideas. The salonières, among them such intellectual hosts as Rahel Varnhagen, Henriette Herz, Germaine de Stael and the Marquise de Rambouillet, were the courtiers of these intellectual soirées.
In the 21st century, it is a social network in an analogue space, a social meeting place without class conceit, a place of ideas and dialogue.
The salon wellemaschine is a place for the arts, located in one of Berlin's most precarious neighbourhoods and offering space for small events, exhibitions, music and literature.