We are counting down the days till the Berlin Art Week – starting on September 15th and gathering art lovers from all over the world for six days in Berlin. This year’s edition includes abc – art berlin contemporary, Positions Berlin, the project Stadt/Bild, as well as more than 20 institutional exhibitions, project spaces, private collections and a rich program of art award ceremonies, gallery nights, performances, screenings and talks. Follow the blue dot & stay tuned for more tips, previews and interviews before and during the big week.

 

THURSDAY 10.09

20.00 Preis der Nationalgalerie @ Hamburger Bahnhof

WHY: The Shortlist-Exhibition of the Preis der Nationalgalerie opens on 10.09 at Hamburger Bahnhof, presenting the four young artistic positions – Christian Falsnaes, Florian Hecker, Anne Imhof und Slavs and Tatars – to a second jury (Bernard Blistène, Centre Pompidou; Manuel Borja-Villel, Museo Reina Sofía; Elena Filipovic, Kunsthalle Basel; Udo Kittelmann, Nationalgalerie; Gabriele Knapstein, Hamburger Bahnhof), as well as the public. Place your bets before 18.09 when the winner is being announced.

Hamburger Bahnhof / Invalidenstr. 50-51, 10557 Berlin, S Hauptbahnhof / open through 17.01 / free entry / more info

 

FRIDAY 11.09

19.00 Paul McCarthy – "Horizontal" @ Schinkel Pavillon

WHY: Paul McCarthy confronts the viewer with scenarios of raw reality via events transmitted by film and television, exploring the tension between the surface of the transmitted images and their invisible, unsettling origins, with reference to the Hollywood film industry and American pop culture. The body, (living-) space, and the object are central to the work presented at the Schinkel Pavillon, which is oriented around themes of waking and sleeping, life and death, presence and illusion.

Schinkel Pavillon / Oberwallstr. 1, 10117 Berlin, U Hausvogteilplatz / open through 15.11 / free entry / more info

 

SATURDAY 12.09

19.00 Alona Rodeh – "Safe and Sound (Evolutions)" @ Grimmuseum

WHY: Alona Rodeh is presenting the fourth and final episode of her exhibition series "Safe and Sound" at Grimmuseum. After her large-scale sculpture, sound and light installation at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, at Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, and currently at Petach Tikva Museum of Art, the last episode remains more abstract and fragmentary, dealing with the relatively domestic nature of the exhibition space, which allows Rodeh to shift from her monolithic large-scale works into more detailed object-based techniques and elements.

Grimmuseum / Fichtestr. 2, 10967 Berlin, U Schönleinstr. / open through 17.10 / free entry / more info

 

TUESDAY 15.09

18.00 STADT/BILD (Image of a City) @ Various locations

WHY:  The collaborative project between four of Berlin’s leading art institutions: Berlinische Galerie, Deutsche Bank KunstHalle, KW, and Nationalgalerie presents four thematically related and coinciding exhibitions. The project also marks the kick-off of Berlin Art Week 2015. Titled “STADT/BILD (Image of a City)”, the project approaches the notion of “the city” as thematic cluster from various perspectives. The institutional structure and work processes of museums will be examined, urban developments will be addressed, as well as social, aesthetic, and cultural aspects relating to “the city”.

"Brandlhuber+ Hertweck, Mayfried – The Dialogic City : Berlin" @ Berlinische Galerie / Alte Jakobstr. 124 – 128, 10969 Berlin, U Moritzplatz / more info
"Xenopolis“ @ Deutsche Bank KunstHalle / Unter den Linden 13/15, 10117 Berlin, U Französische Str. / more info
"Welcome to the Jungle" @ KW / Auguststr. 69, 10117 Berlin, U Rosenthaler Platz / more info 
"Allan Kaprow: Fluids, 1967/2015" @ Neue Nationalgalerie / Potsdamer Str. 50, 10785 Berlin, S+U Potsdamer Platz / more info

 

WEDNESDAY 16.09

12.00 Cindy Sherman @ Me Collectors Room / Stiftung Olbricht

WHY: Containing works from all periods in her long career, the Olbricht Collection provides a remarkable overview of the entire body of work of one of the most important photographers alive today.  Cindy Sherman, now 61, has created an unmistakable and seminal body of work that broke new ground in photography. The exhibition features about 60 photographs and, due to its scope, amounts to a compact retrospective. 

Me Collectors Room – Stiftung Olbricht / Auguststr. 68, 10117 Berlin, U Rosenthaler Platz / open through 10.04 / free entry / more info

 

17.00 Digitale Demenz (Artificial Intelligence) @ EIGEN + ART Lab

WHY: Communicating with computers, letting them make choices, and accepting that they have a mind, ideas, thoughts, and perhaps even feelings of their own are finally linked by a simple question: Where does science end and fiction start? Based on this question, group show at EIGEN + ART Lab  includes works by Erik Bünger, John Cale, Brendan Howell, Chris Marker, Julien Prévieux, Suzanne Treister, and !Mediengruppe Bitnik.

EIGEN + ART Lab / Torstr. 220, 10115 Berlin, U Oranienburger Tor / open through 24.09 / free entry / more info

 

17.00 Kanya Berlin space opening + exhibition by Simon Schubert @ Kanya Berlin

WHY: The name Kanya Berlin is probably familiar to those who attended this year’s Project Space Festival Berlin. As one of the participating spaces, Kanya Berlin hosted a one-day event. Now, during the Berlin Art Week, this new project space is officially opening its doors, presenting the inaugural show with works by Simon Schubert.

Kanya Berlin / Choriner Str. 81, 10119 Berlin, U Rosenthaler Platz / open through 08.11 / free entry / more info

 

THURSDAY 17.09

16.00 abc art berlin contemporary @ Station Berlin

WHY: With around 100 participating galleries, abc art berlin contemporary will be exhibiting in the halls of Station Berlin at Gleisdreieck from 17 to 20 September. The galleries will be showing individual positions in contemporary art; from established artists to emerging newcomers. On Friday and Saturday at 11h, Talking Galleries will host first-rate talks, which will be free of charge. On Wednesday evening prior to abc, all participating Berlin galleries will open their exhibitions in their local gallery spaces; the exhibiting artists include Cecily Brown, Mariana Castillo Deball, Mario García Torres, Camille Henrot, Barbara Kruger, Friedrich Kunath, Gabriel Kuri, Slavs and Tatars, Hito Steyerl, Juergen Teller, etc.

Station Berlin / Luckenwalder Strasse 4-6, 10963 Berlin, U Gleisdreieck / open through 20.09 / more info

 

18.00 Positions Berlin @ Arena Berlin

WHY: From 17–20 September, Positions Berlin Art Fair will present select international galleries that show their most striking contemporary positions in the framework of Berlin Art Week. With 60 exhibitors from 13 countries, Positions Berlin expands the spectrum of already existing formats in Berlin. In a widely varied auxiliary programme, the fair at Arena Berlin will also include a curated video show, special exhibitions, prize award ceremonies, and numerous other events.

Arena Berlin / Eichenstraße 4, 12435 Berlin, U Schlesisches Tor / open through 20.09 / more info

 

FRIDAY 18.09

17.00 Carmen Loch – "Stendhal Labor" @ Erratum

WHY: Under the title “Stendhal Labor”, performance artist Carmen Loch invites to the overstimulated art audience of Berlin Art Week 2015 to a performative oasis. The various light situations of the spaces, Erratum’s basement-like space, and Vesselroom Project with its bright terrace, serve as the starting point for various artistic interventions.

Erratum / Böckhstr. 40, 10967 Berlin, U Schönleinstr. / free entry / more info

 

18.30 Alicja Kwade – "Monolog aus dem 11ten Stock" @ Haus am Waldsee

WHY: For more than a decade, the artist Alicja Kwade has probed questions of astrophysics and philosophy in her sculptural work. Employing simple means, she seeks to uncover several layers of reality. Kwade does not intend to deceive the viewer, but to reveal the illusions to which we are constantly subjected. Through analogies, she illuminates current consumerist thinking and present-day mental frailties.

Haus am Waldsee / Argentinische Allee 30, 14163 Berlin, U Krumme Lanke / free entry / more info