Gallery Weekend debrief
Gallery Weekend debrief
Gallery Weekend
Marguerite Humeau @ Duve Berlin
Arriving at Marguerite Humeau’s show Echoes at Duve made one feel a little apprehentious when confronted at the door with a sign that tells you of the inclusion of ‘deadly Black Mamba venom’ in the wall and floor paint. You are given slippers for your shoes, and there was a weird tang to the air, which freaked a few people out. The show is bright, if you are not a fan of neon, steer clear. The vibe was ripe for the beginning of Gallery Weekend, and Echoes brought a crowd eager explore the potential hazards of deadly venom and anti venom, as well to get the weekend started. The works contained within the green space are nicely executed, with massive barrels of liquid (anti-venom?) being ‘brewed’ connected to these pure white serpent-like sculptures. A must see. Bring safety goggles.
Katharina Grosse @ St. Agnes/König Galerie
Gallery Weekend began coinciding with the Mayday celebrations, which made it a little difficult to navigate through Kreuzberg. However, once at St. Agnes, one felt more at home with the art happy crowd rather that the bottle breaking riot crowd of Erster Mai. St. Agnes has been totally reconstructed by Arno Brandlhuber, and it is well worth the visit. They have built a floating floor in the former church, and it is incredible. Downstairs people were milling about, perusing the survey of selected gallery artists on display. However the real exhibition is upstairs. A now massive exhibition space houses The Smoking Kid, Katharina Grosse’s third show with König composed of several monster paintings (a painting show for painters). Stunning work dwarfs the viewer as the space does. One witnesses nothing short of masterfully executed, lyrical abstracts paintings that can be seen to reference stained glass, which suits their environment. Don’t be foolish and miss this.
SALOON @ Sexauer Gallery
For Gallery Weekend, Sexauer Gallery was presenting 25 artist positions from SALOON, a group of young women of the art scene from Berlin. The way to Sexauer Gallery is always a journey in itself, but it was definitely worth a go. More impressions in the pictures.
credits: Sexauer Gallery
Ngorongoro @ Lehderstrasse 34
In the backyard of Sexauer Gallery, you could find a huge studio space converted into an art heaven for this weekend. The 6 initiators of the project, Jonas Burgert, Andreas Golder, Zhivago Duncan, Christian Achenbach, David Nicholson and John Isaacs, invited fellow artists from their personal network to exhibit with them. No curatorial concept behind it but intuition. And this turned out great. What is more, the courtyard was offering guests a pool, bar and barbecue. All this together made it an enjoyable escape from the Gallery Weekend frenzy and offered a deep breath of fresh air.
