Peter Fischli and David Weiss (Installation View), via Sprüth Magers
On view at Sprüth Magers Berlin is a solo exhibition of work by the collaboration between artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss (often shortened to “Fischli/Weiss”), which explores themes of transition, globalization and ephemerality through a selection of plastic sculptures and photographic installations. (more…)
Despite public protest, work crews have begun dismantling several sections of the Berlin Wall decorated with large-scale murals, known as the East Side Gallery, making way for a new luxury apartment development. The wall was removed early in the morning, clearing about 20 feet of art-covered cement from the longest section of the wall still standing.. “If you take these parts of the Wall away, you take away the soul of the city,” said resident Ivan McClostney. “This way, you make it like every other city. It’s so sad.” (more…)
A number of paintings on the Berlin Wall’s East Side Gallery segment are under threat of demolition in the face of property development. The stretch of wall is slated for demolition to make way for a set of luxury condominiums, and would see see the disappearance of the infamous mural of Soviet and East German leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Eric Honecker (respectively) locked in a passionate kiss. “In this very place people died, and the idea of building luxury flats here would be like erecting a petrol station in front of one of Berlin’s museums,” said Sascha Disselkamp, manager of the Sage nightclub, who represents several high-profile Berlin nightclubs. (more…)
James Franco, Gay Town (2012), via Peres Projects
Peres Projects located in Berlin is presenting a month-long, solo exhibition by American actor, filmmaker, writer and artist James Franco from Saturday February 9th, titled GAY TOWN.
Berlin’s annual Gallery Weekend has just announced its lineup of participating galleries. The event will feautre a number of major Berlin galleries, including Sprüth-Magers, Konrad Fischer and Max Hetzler, as well as a number of newcomers, including Plan B and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler. Gallery Weekend Berlin will run from April 26th to April 28th. (more…)
Wolfgang Tillmans, Exhibition View, via Moderna Museet Stockholm
20 years of photographic works by Wolfgang Tillmans, the first photographer ever to win the Turner Prize, are currently on view at Moderna Museet, comprising his first major show in Sweden.
Olafur Eliasson, The volcano series, (2012), via neugerriemschneider
Olafur Eliasson, in his sixth solo show at neugerriemschneider Berlin, exhibits new work portraying Iceland, his familial homeland. His new photographic series captures the country’s infamous natural features, and through these stunning images transports the viewer into the scale and physicality of the Icelandic landscape. (more…)
Bernd Neumann, the Minister of Culture for Germany, stated in an interview this past weekend that a new museum will be constructed in Berlin to house the city’s collection of Old Masters in the next 4 to 6 years. Concerns over the collection of works by Rembrant, Botticelli, Vermeer, Rubens and others had arisen in the face of major museum renovations and limited funds. (more…)
Image: Christian Jankowski, Monument to the Bourgeois Working Class, 2012
All images courtesy Klosterfelde Gallery
Now on view at Berlin’s Klosterfelde Gallery is German contemporary multimedia artist Christian Jankowski‘s Monument to the Bourgeois Working Class: a video projection, photo series, and large-scale sculpture, which explore tensions between social classes and the use of mass media as a political instrument. Though, while political on the surface, the works are also said to represent the struggles of the individual artist.
Diane Arbus – A young man in curlers at home on West 20th Street, N.Y.C. (1966), Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum
In partnership with Jeu de Paume, Paris, The Estate of Diane Arbus LLC, Fotomuseum Winterthur and Foam Photography Museum, Amsterdam, The Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum is hosting a major retrospective of the work of American Photographer Diane Arbus, including a number of previously unseen pieces.
The Tacheles arts squat, a former hotspot for creatives in Berlin, has been closed by city police. The former warehouse, located in the city’s former Eastern district, became a well known hub for members of the arts scene after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Its owner, HSN Nordbank, decided to demolish the site as it was hindering the progress of area development. The building, covering 1,250 square meters, had previously served as a shopping center, a corporation headquarters and a Nazi Party office.
Gabriel Orozco, Sandstars (2012)
Exploring qualities of taxonomic classification, Mexican-born artist Gabriel Orozco frequently picks his subjects apart, examining numerous elements before assembling or arranging them in the gallery context. His pieces have explored the interaction between nature and culture on micro and macro levels, using scientific forms to classify and categorize these encounters.
Plans to replace 3,000 old masters with modern art in Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie have left many local fans of classical art, and art historians, incensed. The galleries will be filled with an extensive collection of surrealist and expressionist art donated by a billionaire industrialist named Heiner Pietzsch, who gave his collection under the condition that it be displayed in its entirety. The old masters collection–including works by Brueghel, Raphael, and Caravaggio–will be temporarily housed in the Bode Museum, with no plans announced for a permanent home.
‪‬Takashi Murakami’s Kaikai Kiki company to open new exhibition space in Berlin named Hidari Zingaro as its first venture beyond Japan, the opening preview April 27-28 to coincide with Berlin Gallery Weekend and include all-day live painting, while the first official exhibition will open in June
‪‬BMW Guggenheim Lab changes plans on six year tour to not include Berlin district of Kreuzberg due to anti-gentrification protests [AO Newslink]
Dash Snow, Untitled (2001-2009). All images courtesy of Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin.
Contemporary Fine Arts (CFA) Berlin hosts a selection of original Polaroids and a film from the late Dash Snow, curated by Mary Blair Hansen of the Dash Snow Archive. As infamous as his Polaroids were in art circles and beyond they were only ever exhibited three times in Snow’s life. Most people are familiar with only scanned or C-print editions of the almost 8,000 Polaroids that Snow took. Sensational and yet sensitive, these Polaroids were Snow’s entry point into the art world. On view at CFA are over 400 originals grouped and framed, with certain individual images exhibited alone.
‪‬Gerhard Richter retrospective walk-through at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie canceled due paparazzi mob, one day after the artist’s 80th birthday [AO Newslink]
Berlin will host its ersatz spring art fair, Gallery Weekend Berlin (GWB), this weekend, Apr. 29 – May 1, with over 44 galleries participating. Now in its seventh installment, GWB has an air of excitement about it – perhaps due to the number of buyers, dealers, and other visitors flying in, which also coincides with the yoke of the winter season being thrown off. In any event, GWB promises some interesting viewing experiences, and brings a concentrated selection of strong art and events to a city is a prime destination for the creatives of the world.
Albert Oehlen, Stars (2005), via Galerie Max Hetzler
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Brown Skin, Stanislava Kovalcikova, 2010; Green Face Bar, Peter Doig and Chris Ofili, 2000; Past Tense, Embah, 2010; Port of Spain, Peter Doig and Chris Ofili, 2000. Installation view, ‘Self-Consciousness,’ via VeneKlasen Werner.
‘Self-Consciousness’ at VeneKlasen Werner, Berlin, features the portraits of 41 international artists. Curators Hiltons Als and Peter Doig selected pieces that represent the diversity and evolution of modern portraiture: artists come from several generations, use varying media, and range from established to outsider. ‘Self-Consciousness’ juxtaposes distinct artists and their work in such a way that questions the definable qualities of portraiture. Despite myriad styles and genres, many of the artists share a common exploration of themes of sexuality, race, and gender. Among the featured artists are Boscoe Holder, Giorgio de Chirico, Alice Neel, Glenn Ligon, and Chris Ofili.
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Justify My Love, Cecily Brown, 2004, oil on linen. Image via CFA, Berlin.
Cecily Brown‘s exhibition at the Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, features large-scale oil paintings on canvas and linen. Brown camouflages her subjects, often females in torrid positions, within alternately muted and frenzied colors and animated brush strokes. Her use of blurred lines and monochromatic colors forces the observer to look carefully to discern the action of the painting. Brown employs figuration and expressionism in this exhibition, which combines lush landscape paintings with motifs of sexuality and attraction.
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