In these times of uncontrollable shoppingholism, it is important to remember that there are some far more important things in life... To spend your money on. Such as art! Visit some nice galleries, meet some cool artists, do some math and see how many discounted regrets you need to sacrifice to purchase a great piece of art you will cherish for life. Deal? 

WEDNESDAY 02.12

18.00 3hd Festival – opening @ Vierte Welt

WHY: 3hd Festival is a pioneer, an adventurer, and a platform for contemporary music and art. In four days at four locations (Vierte Welt, OHM, HAU & Südblock), new hybrid projects - which were usually confined to the virtual world - will be presented to an ever growing user base under the theme "The Labor of Sound in a World of Debt". The main focus of the program lies in innovators and newcomers of composition and craft, as well as international cooperations, exchanges and networking - networks between genres, composers, artists, theorists, and professionals, as well as their audience.

Vierte Welt / Adalbertstraße 96 (Neues Zentrum Kreuzberg, Galerie 1. OG, entry via outside staircase), 10999 Berlin, U Kottbusser Tor / ongoing until 05.12 / more info

19.00 Five Senses: A Performative Reading by Travis Jeppesen & Snax @ SomoS

WHY: As a part of the Brian Tennessee Claflin and Greta Frau exhibition “Five Senses”, SomoS presents a performative reading by Travis Jeppesen and Snax. “Five Senses” is a chapbook featuring five texts by Jeppesen, inspired by the videos comprising the installation: Taste, Touch, Sight, Smell, and Hearing. The performance will consist of Jeppesen’s live reading of the entire text, with live interpretive sound design by Snax. Signed copies of Five Senses will be available for purchase.

SomoS / Kottbusser Damm 95, 10976 Berlin, U Schönleinstr. / exhibition open through 20.12 / free entry / more info

THURSDAY 03.12

20.00 Helmut Newton: "Pages from the Glossies" / Greg Gorman: "Color Works" @ Helmut Newton Foundation

WHY: This exhibition offers a new perspective on many of Helmut Newton’s iconic photographs. Spanning more than four decades, the images are presented as facsimiles of the original magazine pages in which they were published. During this period, Newton was regularly commissioned by publishers and editors from renowned magazines around the world to share his version and vision of contemporary fashion. This comprehensive exhibition of Newton’s work will be accompanied by the work of Greg Gorman – 25 color portraits of prominent musicians, visual artists, and actors, such as David Bowie, Grace Jones, Andy Warhol, Julianne Moore...

Helmut Newton Foundation / Jebensstrasse 2, 10623 Berlin, S+U Zoologischer Garten / open through 22.05 / more info

FRIDAY 04.12

19.00 Burnrate Black Friday @ Burnrate

WHY: What would you rather choose: a great art purchase which could be a memorable gift to someone dear to you (including yourself), or  the satisfaction of getting famililar with this fairly young gallery, its artists and their precious art pieces? This Black Friday, it doesn't matter if you are loaded with cash or curiosity; works by all of the artists of the gallery displayed in one exhibition is a top deal.

Burnrate / Hohenzollerndamm 201, 10717 Berlin, U Hohenzollernplatz / open through 21.12 / free entry / more info

SATURDAY 05.12

12.00 WASAK! Filipino Art Today @ Arndt

WHY: Spread across two exhibition spaces, the group show „WASAK!“ explores Filipino contemporary art, aiming to provide an emblematic contextual compendium for western audiences. It offers snapshots of current artistic practices from the Philippines, uniting a selection of its leading protagonists. All of the 19 participating artists included have witnessed the social and political upheaval of Philippines’ recent history, and have directed their ideas into the reality of the nation’s capital, from where most of the country’s bizarre undulations spring.

Arndt / Potsdamer Strasse 96, 10785 Berlin, U Kurfürstenstrasse / open through 30.01 / more info
Arndt Art Agency A3 / Fasanenstrasse 28, 10719 Berlin, U Uhlandstrasse / open through 30.01 / more info

THURSDAY 10.12

19.00 Jens Wolf - "Wallwork #17" / Nadia Lichtig - "Gossip as Testimony" @ L40

WHY: For the 17th edition of Wallworks, Jens Wolf will createe a room-sized painting from the matrix of the Pattern Boards he has been meticulously developing for more than 10 years. It will be a rare occassion to see a blown-up version of his neo-geo abstractions, which are usually produced within a strictly defined set of formats.
Concurrently, Nadia Lichtig will do a vocal performance – concert, lecture, and dialogue in one – which loops, superimposes, and combines a variety of feminist texts, connecting traditional sources of knowledge to vernacular forms of expression. Drawings from the artist will also be on display.

L40 / Linienstrasse 40, 10178 Berlin, U Rosa-Luxemburg- Strasse / free entry / more info: Jens Wolf / Nadia Lichtig

19.00 PAPER/WORK @ Rockelmann &

WHY: „PAPER/WORK“ is an exhibition exploring the use and place of paper in the work of a group of artists with distinctly diverse practices. From object and space to surface and text, it explores the diversity of artistic possibilities contained in this everyday material, and presents a new discourse on the role and presence of a familiar medium. The selected works of these artists incorporate paper as substance, as surface, and as an elemental building block of culture, pushing a familiar medium to unfamiliar places.

Rockelmann & / Schönleinstrasse 5, 10967 Berlin, U Schönleinstrasse / open through 23.01 / more info

FRIDAY 11.12

18.00 Friends With Books @ Hamburger Bahnhof

WHY: Christmas arrives early this year for the book lovers: from 11.12 until 13.12, Friends With Books will occupy Hamburger Bahnhof as Europe’s premier event for contemporary artists’ books and periodicals by artists and art publishers. Featuring more than 130 international participants, and a series of public programmes – discussions, readings, presentations, performances, and art works – that explore the perimeters of today’s art publishing.

Hamburger Bahnhof /  Invalidenstrasse 50-51, 10557 Berlin, S Hauptbahnhof / open through 13.12 / more info

19.00 Figures @ Buchmann Galerie

WHY: This group show brings together different approaches to the figure in sculpture. From the constructed and precise works by Tony Cragg, over the expressive and emotional forms by Martin Disler or Rebecca Warren, to the modeled mass of "Kronos" by William Tucker, which embraces the spectator with its volume. Although there is no direct reference in the works of these artists, they all have an awareness of classic sculpture. The photos by Medardo Rosso create the link between the different approaches.

Buchmann Galerie / Charlottenstrasse 13, 10969 Berlin, U Kochstr. / open through 06.02 / free entry / more info