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Fries and Art in Wedding: Tropez
Fries and public pools are tightly connected in Berlin – when you're spending a day at one of the city's pools, it's inevitable to eat fries at one point during the day. It's a Berlin summer ritual. And one that one of my closest friends, Nele Heinevetter, has been following meticulously for years, until she had the opportunity to become the master of the ritual herself and take over the Imbiss at the pool inside of Humboldthain park, where she now serves fries with a side of contemporary art.
Art in Berlin: Julian Rosefeldt's Manifesto
I don't write about art often enough, but I do need to write about this one, although plenty of articles about it are already out and the exhibition is constantly filled with people. However, you also need to see it: Julian Rosefeldt's Manifesto installation at Hamburger Bahnhof.
Art in Berlin: Best of abc 2015
Okay, I need to use this first sentence to make clear that the headline of this post was made for baiting-reasons only. This is not the best-of of abc – art berlin contemporary, the big art-fair-cum-exhibition that opens today at Gleisdreieck. This article is, in fact, showing you my personal favs, the pieces that stood out to me in an early viewing yesterday during setup. Which sadly means video works are (wrongfully) not included here, since the many screens I saw were still black. Please read this one as a teaser instead, a glimpse that shall inspire you to visit this big, most important show of contemporary art!
Gallery Weekend 2015: Niche Berlin's Tips
On Friday, May 1st, all 47 participating galleries will host vernissages for Gallery Weekend shows. All fourty-seven of them. How to survive that visual information overload, you ask? The connoisseurs of art and architecture tours Niche Berlin suggest you stick to the artists you truly wish to see, to the people you truly wish to support or to the places you truly wish to discover. Don't get distracted! We have gathered tips for three extraordinary art locations that complement the official Gallery Weekend program and will make your weekend more memorable by with stunning views and atmospheres, guaranteed.
Art in Berlin: Gonzalez Haase at Jacksons
You know about Gonzales Haase's work although you might have never heard their name before – but you've been in their interiors, like the stunning Andreas Murkudis shop, the Artek x Vitra store at Bikini Berlin, the MDC cosmetic store in Prenzlauer Berg, the Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle, the C/O Berlin photography gallery… and so on and on.
Art in Berlin: Paul Czerlitzki at Johann König
It seems as if the artist Paul Czerlitzki carefully tinted the walls with black chalk – a two-metre-high monochrome frieze runs around the walls of Johann König's austere gallery space for Czerlitzki's new show ANNA (on view until Feb 21st). Actually, the restrained yet striking work was created by applying black acrylic paint through canvas onto the walls, the results being depictions of the canvas structure with only a contingent influence by the artist.
Escape: Carsten Höller – Leben
I went to Vienna to sleep in an artist's bed. Positioned inside of tba21, a beautiful former studio now exhibition space inside of the even more beautiful Augarten in the 2nd district of Vienna, the bed is part of an exhibition also including two aviaries with two finches each and combined by a big scale, a giant floating tank, light and mushroom installations as well as two video works by the artist, Carsten Höller.Do you remember the exhibition in Hamburger Bahnhof where the giant hall was occupied with reindeers, even more finches, and a display of all shapes of fly agarics? And in the middle the giant bed? The Viennese version is a kind of re-installment of the Berlin exhibition, just a littler easier to digest for those staying over night. Like me.
Art and Drink in Berlin: Otto Piene
Have you already taken the chance and visited Otto Piene's exhibition "More Sky" and the installation "The Proliferation of the Sun", that's shown at night at Neue Nationalgalerie and is one of the most beautiful and impressing exhibitions you can experience in Berlin this summer? Because it's closing soon. Very soon, this Sunday to be precise.
Guide: Niche Berlin's Gallery Weekend
It’s that time of spring again and this time it's an anniversary – Gallery Weekend is turning 10 years already! Who would've thought… There'll be plenty of amazing gallery shows, opening, performances and events. But where to go first!?!?However, most of the mega-shows at the big galleries will be on view for a couple of weeks, and they're always a bit too crowded during Gallery Weekend, so you won’t see much of the actual works anyway.We suggest you go for more fun activities and discover the lesser known spots of the Berlin art scene in the coming days. We asked Berlin’s art connoisseurs extraordinaire – Niche Berlin – to let us know which galleries and performance we'd better not miss.In case you want to know more about this city's artists, art spaces and studios, we seriously recommend you book a tour with Niche Berlin!
Art in Berlin: Camille Henrot at Schinkel Pavillon
When I heard that Camille Henrot, the young French artist known for winning the Silver Lion at last year's Biennale, was planning to present Japanese Ikebana at Schinkel Pavillon I was instantly intrigued how she'll translate this traditional and heavily symbolic yet strikingly minimal art of arranging flowers into a contemporary art installation in the center of Europe. While I certainly wasn't be able to figure out each and every symbol and its meaning, the exhibition presented in the distinctive octagon pavilion just off Unter den Linden is remarkable nonetheless.
Art in Berlin: Re-Discovery I at Autocenter
Autocenter just started a new series of small exhibitions called Re-Discovery where they'll combine the work of a young artist with the work of someone senior. The first installment was curated by Francesca Gavin and confronts Sture Johannesson's graphics with Laura Buckley's video installation.
Art in Berlin: John Bock at Sprüth Magers
Past Friday saw the opening of John Bock's first solo exhibition at the Sprüth Magers gallery in Mitte – it's called Knick-Falte in der Schädeldecke (though you probably shouldn't even try to translate this title, I'll still give it a try: folding line in the skullcap), presenting three groups of work from between 2010 and 2014.
Art in Berlin: Christoph Schlingensief
Last Saturday Mitte saw the opening of the year: finally, after several delays, the Christoph Schlingensief exhibition, curated by Klaus Biesenbach, Anna-Catharina Gebbers and Susanne Pfeffer with the artistic advisory of Schlingensief's widow, Aino Laberenz, was opened at Kunst-Werke. What was initially planned by Pfeffer and Schlingensief himself, is now, three years after his death, finally visible in the in Auguststraße – although the curators repeatedly insist that it's not a retrospective, not a concluding show, but the starting point for various inspections of Schlingensief, it's certainly the broadest survey of his creative work to date. Which also means you should take your time to get at least a glimpse of the massive amount of material on display. Some say you'll need five days to view it all.
Sarah Illenberger and Natalie Loher for: & Other Stories
For the opening of the new Mitte store, &Other Stories asked Berlin based artist Sarah Illenberger to create two of her paper pieces to be presented in the windows. She created them together with artist Natalie Loher and they set up the sculptures past Tuesday so I went by the store to snap some pictures.
Art in Berlin: Best of abc
It's the second year Berlin is going through without having a traditional art fair but rather testing an alternative model of presenting, supporting and, yes, in the end also selling art by galleries: the abc - Art Berlin Contemporary. As in last year it's happening at the spacious The Station at Gleisdreieck and luckily again the organizers around director Maike Cruse apply their strict yet compelling concept of one gallery = one artist.
Guide: Berlin Art Week
Ugh, there's loads of arty things to do this week. To grant you an overview of what you'll need to see when, I asked curator and writer Anna-Catharina Gebbers to send me an list of to-dos:
Art in Berlin: Hito Steyerl
Art in Berlin: White Bouncy Castle
Art in Berlin: Tobias Zielony at Berlinische Galerie
I first heard about the photographer Tobias Zielony from my doctor, who told me to write my master thesis in art history about him instead of Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra. He considered his approach to photographing young people, also the main subject of Dijkstra, to be more interesting. Despite me rejecting my doctor's suggestion, Zielony stayed in my mind since this conversation and naturally I was interested to see his new work Jenny Jenny exhibited at Berlinische Galerie. The just recently finished series portrays different women, without any of them being clearly identified as _the_ Jenny, in what supposedly is their working and living environment. The photographs quickly identify them as sex workers, many of them are taken at night or in artificial, often deep red light, many of them semi- or completely nude, posing for the camera. Additionally, their job is mentioned in the press text to the exhibition.
Best of: La Biennale di Venezia 2013
I went to Venice to attend the opening of the 2013 Biennale last week, and despite the dreary weather and the long lines in front of everything of interest, I'm already planning to go again in two years. Nevertheless, the exhibition "Il Palazzo Enciclopedico" in the Arsenale and the Central Pavillon, that was curated by Massimiliano Gioni, and the more than 80 participating countries with exhibitions in the Giardini and in spaces spread all over the city, is still on view until November and should be a must-see for everyone interested in contemporary art. See my personal best-of here: