Alexandra Bircken at BQ Berlin, courtesy BQ Berlin
Mandla Reuter at Croy Nielsen Berlin, courtesy Croy Nielsen
Michael Bühler-Rose at Nature Morte Berlin, courtesy Nature Morte
Christoph Meier at Galerie Kamm, courtesy Galerie Kamm
ZIMOUN at Olympus OM-D: Photography Playground, courtesy Olympus
Opening INSITU, (f.l.t.r.) Gilles Neiens, Marie Graftieaux, Ignacio Uriarte, Sinta Werner, Ulrich Vogl, Nora Mayr
all photo by artfridge
I have a love-hate relationship with Gallery Weekend Berlin: On the one hand, its lovely to have so many amazing shows on display in city. On the other hand, just the thought of 51 official and dozens of unofficial openings within two to three days stresses me out completely. This is why it needs a good preparation before one leaves the house to explore the art shows. After yesterday's press conference at Berlinische Galerie, which took place for the first time, we had the option to already get a preview of the exhibitions.
I went to the area around Volksbühne and saw the great show "Inside out" by Alexandra Bircken BQ, which ironically approaches the aesthetics of a visceral in- and outside with all sorts of materials. Right next door, there is a solo show by Mandla Reuter at Croy Nielsen, which focuses on the initial condition of an urban structure by re-contextualising and banalising tools and objects used in city planning. One more house to the right, the Indian gallery Nature Morte, which participates for the first time in the official program of Gallery Weekend, exhibits "The Botanica", with works by AA Bronson and Michael Bühler-Rose. A pretty wild and incoherent mixture of works, targeting an entertaining and glamourous impact, rather than being authentic. Across the Weydingerstrasse, where the three galleries are located, there is an unconventional and conceptual show at Galerie Kamm by the Austrian artist Christoph Meier, who plays with the borders of painting and sculpture, by freeing paint from its two-dimensionality.
Later that evening, I was invited to the press-opening of "Olympus OM-D: Photography Playground" at the mind-blowing location of the Opernwerkstätten Berlin at Zinnowitzer Strasse in Mitte. Curated by Leigh Sachwitz, twelve artists build striking large-scale multi-media-installations, approaching questions on space and site-specificity. As all of the art works are interactive, one needs a little more time for this great show.
By the end of the evening, I went to Kurfürstenstrasse and visited the opening of the new non-commercial art space INSITU , which is run by the curators Marie Graftieaux, Nora Mayr and Gilles Neiens. Their first exhibition "Episode 0: introducing insitu" shows works by Ignacio Uriarte, Ulrich Vogl and Sinta Werner, who were invited to explore and interact with the space with their individual artistic practice.
Me in a huge QR Code box at "Olympus OM-D: Photography Playground"