This week Neukölln is awake for 48 hours straight for the annual celebration of its creative people and places. If you prefer some variety in the program rather than sticking to one district, there are still many spaces around the city where you can appreciate creativity with the art-minded.

WEDNESDAY 25.06

18.00 Wang Yi - Lifelines @ Galerie Bergwasser

WHY: In our youth-obsessed culture, it is always interesting to see works that deal with the opposite, the unspectacular. Wang Yi counters this artificiality and superficiality in his photographic portraits  by empasizing the marks that life has left on the faces of the people living in harsh conditions. You might be surprised by finding the beauty where you would least expect it.

Galerie Bergwasser / Grolmanstraße 16-16A, 10623 Berlin, S Savignyplatz - U Zoologischer Garten / open through 09.08 / free entry / more info

19.00 Frauke Boggasch & Carsten Fock - Feuer Frei @ Cruise & Callas

WHY: An intriguingly similar artistic and conceptual approach led the artists Frauke Boggasch and Carsten Fock to making the exhibition "Feuer Frei". Their artworks oscillate between painterly abstraction and figurative objectification. With layers of color, gestural strokes, and graphical lines, they literally set pictorial landscapes and ideological mindspaces on fire!

Cruise & Callas / Alexandrinenstr. 1, 10969 Berlin, U Prinzenstr. / open through 19.07 / free entry / more info

THURSDAY 26.06

18.00 Wanton Mobility @ KLEMM'S

WHY: "Wanton Mobility" is an exhibition based on circulation, consumption, waste and accountability. The artists selected for this exhibition share common interests in current socio-political phenomena and the intimate experiences of cause and effect, focusing on how each element of production or creation informs the next. Use this opportunity to find out more about the hot and heavy topics from the well informed and opinionated people.

KLEMM'S / Prinzessinnenstr. 29, 10969 Berlin, U Moritzplatz / open through 09.08 / free entry / more info

FRIDAY 27.07

17.00 48 Hours Neukölln @ various locations

WHY: Sleep is overrated, says Neukölln and throws another 48-hour party for all of the art-loving souls of Berlin. Around 400 contemporary art events will take place during the 48 hours of the festival, in which all imaginable disciplines that are considered to be part of contemporary art practice can be viewed and even participated in. The goings-on are spread out over 250 venues, where the notion of "Courage" as the theme of the festival will be examined. The easiest way to catch up with such an overwhelming program is to get Quarterland (the official mobile guide through the festival), simply go out in the streets and explore the diversity of Neukölln's artistic potential.

48 Hours Neukölln / more info

19.00 Francesca Fini, Michal Helfman, Olaf Kühnemann @ Circle 1

WHY: Circle 1 is not far from Neukölln, and it offers a 3-in-1 opening worth visiting, with works by Francesca Fini, Michal Helfman, and Olaf Kühnemann. Francesca Fini's projects address social and political issues, mixed with lo-fi technology, homemade interaction design devices, live audio and video. Michal Helfman presents a group of works on paper, made ​​in a scraping technique from a layer of oil pastels. Olaf Kühnemann 's  film "Heartworn Highways" reveals impressions and feelings about poetry and a community of songwriters.

Circle 1 / Mittenwalder str. 47, 10961 Berlin, U Gneisenaustr. / open through 26.07 / free entry / more info: F. Fini - M. Helfman - O. Kühneman

19.00 On Stranger Ways @ Scotty Enterprises

WHY: The show, much like the work presented, is an aggregate of carefully selected and loosely connected ideas and materials assembled into a logical whole. Within the work of each artist, it is recognized a desire to order, to make sense of the stuff each finds as they navigate the world. The artists are collecting, documenting, isolating, distilling and displaying; applying subtle and poetic moves to their process to reveal something newly discovered.

Scotty Enterprises / Oranienstrasse 46, 10969 Berlin, U Moritzplatz / open through 19.07 / free entry / more info

19.00 Courage @ Studio Chérie

WHY: Studio Chérie honours the work by the COURAGE Photo Contest Winners, with an exhibition during the 48 Hours Neukölln festival. Next week the winner will be awarded at Studio Chérie, where the artist can realize his own project in a professional photography studio. Until then, at the opening of the show, you can find out more about the competition, see the show, meet the artists, and vote for a final winner.

Studio Chérie / Hobrecht Strasse 66, 12047 Berlin, U Hermannplatz / free entry / more info

SATURDAY 28.06

18.00 Group Spirit @ Peres Projects

WHY: In the exhibition "Group Spirit", Peres Projects shows works by renowned contemporary artists, along with works of unidentified African artists from the Bassa, Gola, Mende, and Vai people of Liberia and Sierra Leone. This will mark the first time the gallery presents an exhibition of classic African art alongside contemporary works. Explore the contrasts and surprising coincidences in these two very different, or very similar artistic worlds.

Peres Projects / Karl Marx Allee 82, 10243 Berlin / open through 09.08 / free entry / more info