Refik Anadol, König Galerie.
With venues currently reducing their events and clubs canceling their parties due to the current rise of infections, the fear is pretty big that we’re heading into another long and boring Winter of nothing much to do. But before you book your flight out of the impending doom, hear me out: Berlin still has a lot going on. There are still a lot of theater shows and exhibitions going on this December that you definitely shouldn’t miss out on.
With our latest guide, we want to shine a light on some current highlights from the world of contemporary art that can be enjoyed here in Berlin. We took a look around to some of our favorite museums and galleries and found a plethora of amazing exhibitions that we want to share with you here. The iconic St. Agnes a.k.a. König Galerie is of course part of it – as per usual since this is our favorite gallery – but also the nearby Berlinische Galerie, Neukölln’s KINDL brewery as well as the beautiful Schinkelpavillon in Mitte. Expect some bizarre Alien sculptures, digital art from the world of NFTs, some latex rubber suits à la American Horror Story and a portrait show questioning masculinity.
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by Frank | Art
photos: Arata Mori.
There are so many wonderful creatives making art in Berlin, and it’s always a joy to see two of our favorites collaborating. This week, two of them, artist Chiharu Shiota and the dance company Sasha Waltz and Guests, are collaborating in an online event that you definitely don’t want to miss. A stunning installation and a dance performance will be fused together at the iconic König Galerie and you can join in online.
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by Adri | Art
Jorinde Voigt, KÖNIG GALERIE, photo: Roman März
Because of the general lockdown caused by the coronavirus, the entire world has recently become increasingly dependent on the wonders of the Internet. But even Netflix can get boring after some time. Luckily, many Berlin artists and institutions make their collections and performances available online – so you can finally go to that museum or gallery you’ve always been intrigued by but never visited!
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by Michalina | Art, Theater
photo: Funkhaus Berlin.
In all of the years that I have been living in Berlin the city never ceases to surprise me with new incredible places, no matter if they are incredible buildings, stunning interiors, unusual locations or innovative concepts. When people who are planning to come to Berlin or are already here but want to experience something new, they often ask me about places like that and where they can find them. My first reaction is always that I am missing the right answers because all the places are so familiar to me, after 18 years, what can truly still surprise me. But then I think back to the moments when I first discovered those incredible places, sometimes even before I had seen pictures of them, and how they made me feel. With this memory in mind I curated the following list of amazing places that will take you by surprise when you first visit them. Our readers who are more familiar with the city might know a lot of them already, but maybe we manage to have at least a couple that you don’t know yet.
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by Frank | Bars, Cafés, Friedrichshain, Galleries, Kreuzberg, Mitte, Neukölln, Wannsee, Wedding
artwork: Haegue Yang, photo Marco Funke
We’re always keeping you up to date on the coolest contemporary art exhibitions in town – highlighting every art week and pointing you right to the hottest galleries whenever we suggest a route for a particular hood. The Berlin crowd is famous for channeling their creativity in the most unusual ways so no wonder you always enjoy these tips! That’s why we thought we might just go ahead and present you a guide of the 10 most important contemporary art places in the city.
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by Michalina | Art, Galleries, Kreuzberg, Mitte, Museums, Neukölln, Schöneberg, Tiergarten, Top Guides
”Another Winter” – Aleksandar Duravcevic, Feb/March 2017
Berlin in recent years has become known for the space and freedom it gives emerging artists to create and find their artistic voice. Meanwhile, more and more art galleries make their way into the art market to represent and exhibit their work; one of our favorite ones we always love to visit is König Gallery in Kreuzberg.
König Gallery was founded by Johann König in 2002. His innovative spirit showed from the very beginning, when, at the age of 21 he invited his artist friend Jeppe Hein to install a wrecking ball in the gallery, destroying chunks of its wall as it moved about the space, and among the viewers. His innovative spirit, years later, and the urge to move away from the ‘white cube’, had him acquire an old unused church and turn it into an art space. St. Agnes is a Postwar massive concrete building of Brutalist style, designed by Werner Düttmann and built in the 1960s. A former catholic church, which however was out of service since 2004, found new life in 2015 when König re-opened it as the second location for his gallery, (now serving as the main space) while he also resides with his wife Lena in the church’s former rectory.
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by Stella | Art, Galleries, Kreuzberg
This city is just full of surprises: To a newcomer here, a lot of Berlin’s ways might even come as a bit of a shock, until one gets used to it. Among these shocking things, is seeing spaces with a very particular context, such as churches, not serving solely their religious purpose as gathering points of worship, but instead being used for other cultural activities: exhibition spaces, concert stages, theatre stages. For most other parts of the world that’d be unthought of: but Berlin is just like no other city, haven’t we established that already? In terms of, well, everything; and churches confirm it.
Spaces so holy, designed to create awe and devoutness, connected with faith or death, both parts of life that are hard for us to conceive, find other, secular uses, and thus step off their high place somewhere closer to us. That’s got a lot to do with the city’s tendency of giving a new life to things old and abandoned: from the secondhand scene being so strong here, people reuse every chance they get, to abandoned places that often become art spaces, to churches and crematoria being reused, having a new life, and gain new meaning. A collection of such spaces, that caught our eye somehow, either with their design, or with the whole new use, we are about to present to you 🙂
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by Stella | Art, Stories
Aleksandar Duravcevic, “Another Winter” at König Galerie
The temperature is finally albeit still timidly encouraging us to get out into the streets – and if it’s not your first spring in Berlin, you know there’s more to enjoy than the lighthearted routine of acquiring some refreshments at a Spati and draining them in some lovely nature setting. It goes without saying that you can experience art (from murals to street buskers and beyond) in virtually every corner of this fine town, but Berlin is home to many galleries as well, most of which are free of charge! Get your creative juices flowing with the iHeartBerlin guide to the spring exhibition highlights!
by Michalina | Art
Berlin Biennale 2016, photo: Timo Ohler *
This summer seems to be the perfect time to discover new art and cultural exhibitions in Berlin. It’s not Gallery Weekend, it’s not Art Week either, yet there are still so many interesting exhibitions going on worth checking out. Of course the biggest one of all of them is the current edition of the Berlin Biennale that takes place at multiple venues all over central Berlin. This year’s concept of the acclaimed exhibition is quite controversial, the more reason for us to go and check it out! But we also have a brand new private art collection in town that follows in the footsteps of the me Collectors Room and the Collection Boros at the former Bunker. This one found a new home in the former Konzulat, a place that will be dearly missed but is now filled with new life. For a less high-concept, more down-to-earth kind of exhibition we recommend the #LiveThere Haus, an exhibition by visual artist collective 44flavours from Berlin who took over the Hallesches Haus for a few days next week. This and much more in our new Berlin exhibition highlights guide for the summer of 2016. Enjoy!
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by Frank | Art
Halle am Berghain, photo: iHeartBerlin
Hey guys, did you know it’s Spring now? The sun is mostly shining, the streets are filling up, and everyone is looking pretty happy. There’s no better way to enjoy the season than to hop around town from one gallery to another, and this is the weekend to do it. Tons of galleries are opening interesting exhibitions with cool receptions to stand around at; there are lots of options, so you have no excuse: Get to a vernissage and mingle! Wondering what to see? Don’t worry – we got you covered. Here are our recommendations for Gallery Weekend Berlin 2016.
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by Keith | Art
