In the beginning there was displeasure. A weariness that formed between Basel, Sao Paulo and Miami. Always traveling, standing in boring exhibition stands and selling art from thin, white-painted walls. You have the most beautiful exhibition rooms at home in Berlin.
That sounds like a luxury problem, but around 2005 it became an existential question. Gallerist Martin Klosterfelde complained that he often no longer knew which city he was in. The work in one’s own gallery suffers due to the many international art fairs that one now has to take part in. However, this helplessness did not last long; Berlin’s art scene was already self-confident enough to create an alternative: two decades ago, the first Gallery Weekend took place in the capital.
55 participants and a huge supporting program
It was a small event compared to the excitement that Berlin galleries’ annual long weekend now causes. This time it takes place from April 26th to 28th, has 55 official participants, a new director in Antonia Ruder – and an incredibly broad supporting program, for which it is largely not responsible (Berlin Culture, pages 22/23). Institutions open new exhibitions, countless other galleries hold openings sidekick. No one can escape the pull, not even during the Biennale in Venice. On the contrary: the weekend continues to attract collectors from everywhere, and anyone who is already in Europe will attend at least both dates. How could it come to this?
It definitely has to do with its initiators. Klosterfelde closed its rooms in 2013. However, Max Hetzler, Alexander Schröder (Galerie Neu), Tim Neuger (Galerie Neugerriemschneider) and Esther Schipper were already important players back then. Today they are among the globally active galleries, just like Konrad Fischer, Buchholz and Sprüth Magers with branches in London, Los Angeles and New York. You can’t just pass by their exhibitions.
But it is also a question of strategy. In 2005, around twenty colleagues took part in the Gallery Weekend. Today there are more than twice as many, and yet there are countless candidates in Berlin whose gallery work is absolutely on par. Nevertheless, the newcomers remain manageable: with Noah Klink, Schiefe Zahn and Heidi, exciting new companies have been founded in the past; this year Molitor is taking part for the first time; a young gallery on Kurfürstenstrasse that will be showing works by the US artist Lisa Jo from the end of next week.
The art of scarcity
A bit of fresh blood, the art of scarcity and Berlin’s potential in recent years – thanks to this mix, the weekend is still surprisingly fresh even after two decades. A gallery like Konrad Fischer found spectacular new spaces in an industrial monument in 2019; Ebensperger only recently moved to the Fichtebunker in Kreuzberg. Here, in the strangely dull atmosphere, works by, among others, the magnificent photographer Gundula Schulze Eldowy will be hanging in a few days.
Sebastian Klemm will have prepared his future address on Leipziger Straße for a group show. And the legendary Barbara Weiss gallery is now called Trautwein Herleth: eight years after the gallery owner’s death, Bärbel Trautwein and Daniel Herleth are daring to rename it because they have left their own stamp on the place in the past.
New formats in autumn for Berlin Art Week
Everything stays new, that’s the best way to summarize the principle. The team grew with the demands, Maike Cruse joined as director and secured unforgettable locations for the Gallery Weekend for its dinner in the reception hall of Tempelhof Airport or in the expressive setting of the Mitte regional court.
Antonia Ruder, who took on the task in November 2023, also has plans for “expansion and new formats”, especially in the fall during Berlin Art Week, but wants to leave the concept untouched, precisely because it works perfectly. Without the outstanding art that can be seen here every year and always at the highest level, currently with names like Andy Warhol (Galerie Bastian), Tony Cragg (Galerie Buchmann), Cornelia Schimmele (Galerie Judin) or Rosemarie Trockel (Galerie Crone). , but all of this would be nothing. This is an inseparable part of the success story of the Gallery Weekend.
