Back for its sixth year, this edition of Berlin Art Week runs from September 13 to 17, showing off the very best of art in Berlin and beyond. Galleries, project spaces, private collections, and various other art venues across the city are participating with exhibitions, art fairs, art awards, talks, films, tours, parties, and much more.  Don't miss our top favs & must-sees, and stay updated for more tips. 

 

WEDNESDAY 13.09

10.00 LA > X Film Festival @ Kino Arsenal

WHY: To mark the 50-year city partnership between Berlin and Los Angeles, film curator Marc Glöde and collector Axel Haubrok are putting together a film festival and exhibition under the name LA > X, which focuses on artistic viewpoints from LA.A day’s worth of films from LA artists showcasing works from Edgar Arceneaux, John Baldessari, James Benning, Morgan Fisher, Alex Hubbard, Rodney McMillian, Sarah Morris, Ryan Trecartin and Jennifer West.

Kino Arsenal / Potsdamer Str. 2, 10785 Berlin, S+U Potsdamer Platz / more info

 

13.00 Portrait of a Nation @ me Collectors Room

WHY: „Portrait of a Nation“ offers a glimpse into the creative practices of 50 contemporary artists from the United Arab Emirates. The visitors are invited to explore the country through the individual perspectives of the participating artists who call it home. The exhibition is divided into seven themed rooms: Nation & Unity, Geography & Nature, Architecture & Urbanism, Portraiture & Identity, Religion & Spirituality, Language & Calligraphy, and Tradition & Heritage.

me Collectors Room / Auguststr. 68, 10117 Berlin, U Rosenthaler Platz / open through 29.10 / more info

 

18.00 Harun Farocki – „Retrospective“ / „Mit anderen Mitteln – By Other Means“ @ Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.)

WHY: In order to pay tribute to the significant oeuvre of Harun Farocki, n.b.k., in cooperation with Arsenal, Harun Farocki Institute, Harun Farocki GbR, Savvy Contemporary and Silent Green Kulturquartier, initiated the first comprehensive retrospective of Farocki’s work. At n.b.k., the exhibition „Harun Farocki: Mit anderen Mitteln – By Other Means“ assembles his film installation works. Concurrently, n.b.k. shows Claire Fontaine's „The Crack-Up“, and  Alfredo Jaar's „Rosa, Karl, Bertolt, Herbert and the others“, which is also a hommage to the legacy of Farocki.

Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) / Chausseestr. 128–129, 10117 Berlin, U Oranienburger Tor / open through 28.01 / more info 

 

19.00 Willem de Rooij – „Whiteout“ @ KW

WHY: KW presents a selection of work spanning the last 20 years from artist Willem de Rooij. Ethical and political consequences of mass-distribution of visual media, representation of appropriated imagery taken from cultural and historical artifacts, as well as artistic sources are some of the main concerns in de Rooij’s practice. The exhibition also features significant early work made during de Rooij’s 12-year collaboration with Jeroen de Rijke.

KW Institute for Contemporary Art / Auguststr. 69, 10117 Berlin, U Rosenthaler Platz / open through 17.12 / more info 

 

THURSDAY 14.09

16.00 Art Berlin @ Station Berlin

WHY: The successor of abc fair, Art Berlin takes place for the first time this year, presenting around 110 international galleries from 16 countries. In addition to both emerging and established galleries focusing on contemporary art, one will also be able to discover modern art. A dense program of events developed in collaboration with Berlin artists will follow: talks, studio visits, and walks throughout the exhibition grounds and in the city.

Station Berlin / Luckenwalder Str. 4–6, 10963 Berlin, U Gleisdreieck / open through 17.09 / more info  

 

18.00 Positions Berlin @ Arena Berlin

WHY: This year POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair takes place for the fourth time. It showcases 83 selected international galleries from 15 countries with their most significant artistic positions. Strong young positions and established contemporary artists will be presented alongside works of classical modernism.

Arena Berlin / Eichenstr. 4, 12435 Berlin, U Schlesische Str. / open through 17.09 / more info 

 

19.00 Festival of Future Nows @ Hamburger Bahnhof

WHY: As with the 1st edition of the festival in 2014, this year's cooperation between the Nationalgalerie and Olafur Eliasson and his Institute for Spatial Experiments brings together a diversity of artistic works by more than 100 international artists. Interdisciplinary formats like temporary settings, collective performances, improvised installations, situational readings, poetic sound performances and playful interactions are at the center of the four-day festival.

Hamburger Bahnhof / Invalidenstr. 50-51, 10557 Berlin, S Hauptbahnhof / ongoing until 17.09 / more info

 

FRIDAY 15.09

18.00 Art Berlin Gallery Openings

WHY: In addition to the 4-day long Art Berlin fair at Station Berlin, on Friday evening the Berlin-based participants will open doors to their galleries to host openings and events. Our personal favorites and must-sees include: Lisa Holzer @ Gillmeier Rech, Ho Tzu Nyen @ Galerie Michael Janssen, Sonya Schönberger @ Katharina Maria Raab, Andrea Crespo @ Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Black Matters @ Galerie Barbara Thumm, Barbara Kruger + Llyn Foulkes + Jon Rafman @ Sprüth Magers ...

More info

 

19.00 Monica Bonvicini – „3612,54 M³ VS 0,05 M³“ @ Berlinische Galerie

WHY: Conceived for the large exhibition hall of the Berlinische Galerie, Monica Bonvicini's installation investigates the term facade and its function. The show runs parallel to the 15th Istanbul Biennale, in which the artist is also participating, and features elements from both cities – Berlin and Istanbul. Bonvicini's site-specific, power-conscious and gendered allusions to the norms of architecturaland artistic modernism quite literally operate on the boundary between artwork and spectator.

Berlinische Galerie / Alte Jakobstr. 124–128, 10969 Berlin, U Moritzplatz / open through 26.02 / more info 

 

SATURDAY 16.09

11.00 Slavs and Tatars – „Reading Room“ / „Apocalypse and/or its Metamorphosis. Reading & Brunch“ @ Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler

WHY: On the occasion of Slavs and Tatars’ traveling mid-career survey, " The Reading Room" is dedicated to the artists’ ongoing engagement with printed matter, the book as a platform for research, the materiality of language, and the act of reading. Come by for the show, the reading of Norman O. Brown’s „Apocalypse and/or its Metamorphosis“, the brunch, the other show (Andrea Crespo's „[intensifies]“), and to inspect the gallery's new space in Kreuzberg.

Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler / Kohlfurter Straße 41/43, 10999 Berlin, U Kottbusser Tor / open through 14.10 / more info 

 

17.00 Geoffrey Farmer - „The care with which the rain is wrong“ @ Schinkel Pavillon

WHY: Using the media of photography, video, sculpture, drawing, and installation, Geoffrey Farmer explores the question of how perception is defined by the specific realm that we see and how everything visual becomes a prop and an agent of memory. In his scenic-narrative installations, objects, and visual conglomerates, Farmer often blurs fiction and (temporary) reality as well as diverging moments of space-time and dimensions.

Schinkel Pavillon / Oberwallstr. 1, 10117, U Hausvogteilplatz / open through 12.11 / more info