Gallery Weekend once again presents us Berlin art scene’s crème de la crème with official shows at 54 galleries + countless additional off-program events. The 13th edition takes over the prolonged weekend to showcase new art shows, spaces & faces, and provide plenty valid excuses to overattend parties. Besides exceptional stamina and your most comfortable pair of sneakers, the thing you will need the most to get the most out of the weekend is a bit of research and a plan. As always, we happily assist with the latter and give out our favorites in the jungle of first-class options. From blockbusters to insider tips – see our tips below. 

 

WEDNESDAY 26.04

19.00 Paul Rosero Contreras – „Sierra Negra“ @ Import Projects

WHY: Ecuadorian artist Paul Rosero Contreras explores the continuum between representing and altering a given landscape, while also probing the distinction between objectivity and enigma. Drawing on fieldwork in locations including active volcanos in the Galapagos Archipelago, Sierra Negra presents perspectives on evolution, experiments, and mutation.

Import Projects / Keithstr. 10, 10787 Berlin, U Wittenbergplatz / open through 25.05 / more info 

 

THURSDAY 27.04

17.00 !Mediengruppe Bitnik – „Is anybody home lol“ @ EIGEN + ART Lab

WHY: "Is anybody home lol" is the question that the !Mediengruppe Bitnik is asking with their exhibition, and the possible answers are given in the four works on display. The expression of digitalization and technologization of the present day is their artistic material. Their work deals with the interest of testing and discovering misunderstandings about technologies and their misuse.

EIGEN + ART Lab / Torstr. 220, 10115 Berlin, U Oranienburger Tor / open through 24.06 / more info

 

17.00 Paper Positions 2017 @ Bikini Berlin

WHY: The new independent art fair Paper Positions opens this year during the Gallery Weekend. 30 international galleries will present their most significant artistic positions of contemporary and modern art, with focus on paper works. Drawings, collages, paper cuttings, text works, photography, art books, and objects will be shown in four days at Bikini Berlin.

Bikini Berlin / Budapester Str. 38-50, 10787 Berlin, S+U Zoologischer Garten / open through 30.04 / more info

 

18.00 Aisha Khalid – „I Am and I Am Not“ @ Zilberman Gallery

WHY: Influenced by the figurative miniature tradition of the Mughal Empire, Aisha Khalid fuses tradition with contemporary issues such as the female figure and the global politics. „I Am and I Am Not“ consists of various paintings, a diptych in book form, and a site-specific installation. During the opening, the gallery will host „Itinerant Interlude #14“ with performances by Christine Paté and Matthias Badczong, curated especially for the show.

Zilberman Gallery / Goethestraße 82, 10623 Berlin, U Ernst-Reuter-Platz / open through 31.07 / more info

 

19.00 Abetz & Drescher – „Dawn of Tomorrow” @ Magic Beans Gallery

WHY: For twenty years, Maike Abetz and Oliver Drescher have not only been involved in an intimate relationship, but have also been capturing their distinctive and unique works in acrylic on canvas. Fascinated by the European Renaissance, but also by classic modernity in Germany, the artist couple jointly dedicate themselves to an oeuvre in which light is brought onto the canvas as if we were guests of the ancient Greeks.

Magic Beans Gallery / Auguststr. 86, 10117 Berlin, S Oranienburger Str.–U Oranienburger Tor / open through 28.05 / more info

 

19.00 David Derish & Tian Jiang – „Less and Less Human: Casualties of Modern Life (Figures Effaced in Various Iterations)“ @ Rockelmann&

WHY: The exhibition brings together the work of two eclectic artists, American painter David Derish and Chinese multi-media artist Tian Jiang. From two varying perspectives and mediums, each artist addresses the struggle of the individual in a world of shifting social structures, objectification, and subversion of identity by the forces of modern life.

Rockelmann& / Schönleinstr. 5, 10967 Berlin, U Schönleinstr. / open through 01.06 / more info

 

FRIDAY 28.04

16.00 Candice Breitz – „Love Story“ @ KOW

WHY: KOW hosts an exhibition by Candice Breitz, a representative of South Africa at this year's Venice Biennale. „Love Story“ is the title of her seven-channel installation based on the personal stories of six refugees, recited by Alec Baldwin and Julianne Moore. The two actors are here to bring forward the stories of people who are treated as invisible, to draw attention to those who are continuously ignored in refugee camps and asylum courtrooms.

KOW / Brunnenstr. 9, 10119 Berlin, U Rosenthaler Platz / open through 30.07 / more info

 

18.00 Stine Nielsen Ljungdalh & Charlotte Bergson – „SILVER - Encounters with Bâ“ @ Berlin Blue Art

WHY: With „SILVER – Encounters with Bâ“ the artist duo Stine Nielsen Ljungdalh / Charlotte Bergson addresses the idea of passing the threshold to a secret world. The exhibition forms a dialogue between objects, artifacts, and photographic works, resulting in an alchemical theatre that challenges our ideas of personality and reality. Artists will be present at the opening.

Berlin Blue Art / Köpenicker Str. 96, 10179 Berlin, U Heinrich-Heine-Str. / open through 20.05 / more info

 

18.00 Kasia Fudakowski – "Double Standards - A Sexhibition" @ ChertLüdde

WHY: ChertLüdde  opens its doors for the exhibition „Double Standards“ by Kasia Fudakowski. The show provides a stage for Fudakowski's sculptures and publication which reflect the idea of “liberal baiting“ – poking at issues such as gender and political affiliation within the theoretically avowed art world. Concurrently, Porcino – the exhibition space inside a hole in ChertLüdde – presents works by David Horvitz.

ChertLüdde / Ritterstr. 2a, 10969 Berlin, U Moritzplatz / open through 17.06 / more info

 

18.00 Angela Bulloch – „Heavy Metal Body“ / Anri Sala – „Rake Over“ @ Esther Schipper

 

WHY: Among many galleries in and around Potsdamer Strasse, Esther Schipper is priority due to the amazing new venue located in a complex together with a few other high-end galleries. The new space will be inaugurated with two solo shows: „Heavy Metal Body“ with three new scupltures and a wall painting by Angela Bulloch, and „Rake Over“ featuring a major new installation and a large-scale drawing project by Anri Sala.

Esther Schipper / Postdamer Str 81E, 10785 Berlin,  U Kurfürstenstr. / open through 17.06 / more info

 

19.00 Social Geometrism @ Reinbeckhallen

WHY: Kunst Am Spreeknie Festival presents the exhibition „Social Geometrism“ with works by 14 international Berlin-based artists. In a time where social patterns have been evolving in unprecedented ways, the show tries to explore and highlight aspects of those new spatiotemporal formations. It brings together lines, solids, surfaces, and more complex polyhedral figures that present themselves as sociological models.

Reinbeckhallen / Reinbeckstr. 9, 12459 Berlin / open through 7.5 / more info

 

SATURDAY 29.04

18.00 Valentin Dommanget – „There“ @ Display

WHY: Valentin Dommanget' s „There“ takes on the shapes of its own digital representations. It is a virtual tour translated into reality, unfolding and multiplying the versions of a same space. The illusion of spatiality, given by the 3D modeling, is directly transferred to the physical space through Augmented Virtuality. The show is an attempt to reveal and extrapolate the presence of the wireless in our sensorial environment and its impact on our daily lives and bodies.

Display / Mansteinstr. 16, 10783 Berlin, S+U Yorckstr. / open through 07.05 / more info