Being overwhelmed with art is one of the finer feelings in life. You never know when and how it is going to hit you, but it never fails to appear during the Berlin Art Week. The long awaited week is happening now and in full speed, so be quick and catch up before its gone till next September.

 

WEDNESDAY 17.09

17.00 Closer to Gaza @ Kühlhaus Berlin

WHY: This benefit auction brings together more than 17​0 international artists ​to raise funds for medical assistance in Gaza. Proceeds will support two NGO's specialized in supplying medical aid and equipment to the Palestinian Territories. From 17-21.09.2014 the donated works will be exhibited at Kühlhaus Berlin. Bidding is exclusively online at ​http://paddle8.com/auctions/closertogaza until 21.09 at  21h.

Kühlhaus Berlin / Luckenwalder Str. 3, 10963 Berlin, U Gleisdreieck / open through 21.09 / more info

 

18.00 Vicky Uslé - Weightlessness Encunter @ alexander levy

WHY: Inspired by architecture and nature, Vicky Uslé uses drawing and painting to express observations, dreams, and reflections from her everyday life. In her new work cycle of paintings, which will be shown for the first time, she constructs and deconstructs forms and rearranges them into dynamic situations. Join the opening and embrace new visions and desirable utopias that might come out of the Weightlessness Encounter.

alexander levy / Rudi-Dutschke-Str. 26, 10969 Berlin, U Konchstr. / open through 08.11 / free entry / more info

 

18.00 Corinne Wasmuht / Helen Marten @ Johann König, Berlin

WHY: Some serious premiers will grace the exhibiting space of Johann König, Berlin and make this a BAW opening to remember. Helen Marten's room-sized installation "Orchids, or a Hemispherical Bottom" will be presented here for the first time in Germany after it had been created for the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. Meanwhile, several panel paintings in oil on wood by the Berlin artist Corinne Wasmuht will be on display in the gallery for the first time in a solo exhibition.

Johann König, Berlin / Dessauer Str. 6-7, 10963 Berlin, S + U Potsdamer Platz / open through 01.11 / free entry / more info: Corinne Wasmuht / Helen Marten

 

18.00 Mike Bouchet - Power Lunch @ Peres Projects

WHY: Our favorite place for a quick pop culture fix in Berlin is Peres Projects, and this show is no exception to the house rule. Mike Bouchet's glossy photo-realist paintings isolate a particularly influential branch from our ubiquitous pop culture cacophony - the movie poster - to illustrate the tensions, escape fantasies, conflicts, erotic simulation, and power of this popular form of mass media imagery. "Power Lunch" seems to be the right title for this show which will surely attract a powerful crowd.

Peres Projects / Karl Marx Allee 82, 10243 Berlin, U Weberwiese / open through 01.11 / free entry / more info

 

18.00 Ingo Mittelstaedt - Soft Image @ Galerie koal

WHY: Ingo Mittelstaedt's concern with the aesthetics of display and the re-interpretation of the photographic process creates in his work a wonderful dialogue between what we see and how we see it. Leaflets of all types of supermarkets are the protagonists of his newest photographs. Cheap ads are ruptured by fireworks and washing-machines through subtle gestures and artistic interventions. Find out more about this artistic play and the artist himself in our "Pre-Interview: Ingo Mittelstaedt".

Galerie koal / Brunnenstrasse 25 B (1st floor), 10119 Berlin, U Rosenthaler Platz / open through 14.11 / free entry / more info

 

THURSDAY 18.09

16.00 abc - art berlin contemporary @ Station Berlin

WHY: Yearly occasions such as abc art fair never fail to impress with the quantity and quality of art. This year with 110 single positions of contemporary art and an extensive programme, it will surely exhaust you in a purely positive way. Numerous galleries, both young and established, national and international, will present mainly new works and premieres. The four-day programme will offer a packed calendar of performances, artists talks, sound pieces, films, and theatre productions across the entire site. In addtition to all that, the programme is complemented by the abc gallery nights on Wednesday and Friday.

Station-Berlin / Luckenwalder Strasse 4-6, 10963 Berlin, U Gleisdreieck / open through 21.09 / more info

 

FRIDAY 19.09

19.00 Framework 3: Meet your idol @ Insitu

WHY: From all-time superstars to small and humble role-models, personal idols take many different forms, giving us something to be awed by and aspire to. For "Framework 3: Meet your idol“, insitu has invited the German artist Helene Hellmich to reflect on those who have influenced her practice and to present her work alongside theirs. Her work often combines drawings, installation and architectural structures in an encyclopedic-like working practice which have resulted in, for example, the creation of a museum of clouds or a mind map of thoughts.

insitu / Kurfürstenstrasse 21-22, 10785 Berlin, U Kurfürstenstr. / open through 18.10 / free entry / more info

 

20.00 Mariana Castillo Deball - Parergon @ Hamburger Bahnhof

WHY: In the exhibition "Parergon", the celebrated artist Mariana Castillo Deball explores the 'biographies' of things from the collections of several Berlin museums, especially those linked to the Nationalgalerie and its history. The new large-scale installation combines various artistic considerations at the intersection of research, philosophy and art, and enters into a dialogue with the historical exhibits.

Hamburger Bahnhof / Invalidenstraße 50-51, 10557 Berlin, S Hauptbahnhof / open through 01.03 / free entry / more info

 

SATURDAY 20.09

18.00 Meschac Gaba - Museum of Contemporary African Art (in collaboration with Tate Modern) @ Deutsche Bank KunstHalle

WHY: Meschac Gaba's "Museum of Contemporary African Art" is an installation consisting of 12 rooms. KunstHalle presents seven of these rooms, which critically question the essence of the museum and the perception of African art. As a provocation of the Western art world, it demands more recognition for African contemporary art and raises the question of why the cultural distinctions exist. It is also important for marking the start of collaboration between Deutsche Bank KunstHalle and Tate Modern.

Deutsche Bank KunstHalle / Unter den Linden 13/15, 10117 Berlin, S+U Friedrichstr. / open through 16.11 / free entry / more info

 

21.00 Berlin Art Link presents Yung Jake and Miss M.E @ Kim Bar

WHY: In this "L.A. meets Berlin" clash of the titans, West Coast artists arrive to wrap up the Berlin Art Week. With performances by pop/artist MISS M.E and artist/rapper YUNG JAKE, whose artwork will be exhibited at abc by Steve Turner Contemporary, Berlin Art Link magazine celebrates the exciting days of BAW & abc. Doors open at 21h, concerts start at 22h, and an all-night after-party with DJ Tommy Gunn follows from 23h on.

Kim Bar / Brunnenstraße 10, 10119 Berlin, U Rosenthaler Platz / free entry / more info