feature berlin biennial
somewhat longer excursion could take you from Neue Nationalgalerie,
one of the biennial’s venues, to Isabella Bortolozzi’s new premises in an
old bourgeois apartment right on the other side of the canal, and from
there to Johann König in Dessauer Straße, on to Hedemannstraße,
where Sandra Bürgel and Croy Nielsen are located. When properly
warmed up, go and explore the new gallery cluster around nearby
Kochstraße and Charlottenstraße.
A side trip could take you to MD 72, at Kreuzberg’s
Mehringdamm 72, to check out the exhibition Gebrochener Zahn, a
survey of the Polish punk and new wave movement that stems from
the personal archive of an insider (in cooperation with Paulina Olowska,
through 25 April). MD 72 is located on the same street as the famous
Curry 36, home of great Currywurst and serious rival to Konopke, a
booth under the U-Bahn station at Eberswalder Straße. If sausage is
not to your taste, Grill Royal at Friedrichstraße is still hosting the in-
crowd, now challenged by the recently opened San Nicci, just a block
away and latest brainchild of the owner of VIP favourite Borchardt’s.
Should you be travelling with your laptop, go to Café St
Oberholz at Rosenthaler Platz, the undisputed hotspot for the digital
bohemia. But don’t go there to meet people offline.
To have a break from the arts, venture out to Tempelhof
Airport. This might be the last chance to see it functioning, as its fate
is still under heavy debate. One wing of the building houses Berlin’s
Polizeipräsidium, and the police headquarters accommodates one of
Berlin’s most curious museums, the Police History Collection, with its
display of crime paraphernalia, old-fashioned investigative technology
and miniature models of all sorts of illegal activities. One model displays
the traditional Kreuzberg riots on 1 May (another spring attraction…).
Unfortunately the museum is only open to the public Monday to
Wednesday, 9 am to 3 pm.
After you have digested some Nazi architecture, try the Stalinist
An on-the-ground guide to Berlin’s fast-
approach and, if you haven’t been, visit Karl-Marx-Allee. Built between
1952 and 1960 as East Berlin’s main boulevard, it saw the uprising of
moving gallery scene, plus where
the construction workers on 17 June 1953, leading to a general uprising
to go when you’ve seen enough art
against the socialist regime. Up until the reunification, this date was a
West German national holiday. Start your journey at Strausberger Platz,
as there is no escaping contemporary art. You will find the Adamski and
recently relocated Ben Kaufmann galleries, as well as the showroom of
words ASTRID MANIA the Haubrok Collection. If you have had enough of art, make your way
further up to where Karl-Marx-Allee becomes Frankfurter Allee and
check out the concept stores Berlinomat, with a focus on Berlin-based
designers, and F95. Or admire Karl-Marx-Allee by night through the
this spring, when the Berlin Biennial and the Gallery Weekend windows of CSA, the stylish bar in the former office of Czech Airlines.
(May 2–4) coincide, Berlin could offer something like an overdose The area around nearby Simon-Dach-Straße arguably has a few too
to artoholics. Featuring ‘34 Galleries, 34 Openings’, these three days many bars and restaurants now, but during the day it offers good
should keep every art lover busy and will certainly prompt all the opportunities for another German classic, coffee and cake, the latest
galleries in town to put on their Sunday best. Long gone are the good fashion in this area, as well as some actual fashion.
old days when the galleries in Berlin’s former East could all be visited Designers have also radically transformed the streets in Mitte,
by strolling up Auguststraße and meandering back down Linienstraße. notably the area around both Alte and Neue Schönhauser Straße, and
Nowadays you need trainers more than ever, or a bike, a city map and particularly Mulackstraße, once the home of, in the best sense of the
a lot of stamina. Many of the core galleries have relocated, while last word, some rather obscure bars. A lot of Berlin has become distinctly
year’s art fair incited an epidemic wave of new openings. And still more sanitised, but those who hang on to the evil habit of smoking will find
galleries have been launched since then. The search for suitable spaces bars that still provide ashtrays, despite the smoking ban. More galleries,
with affordable rents has changed the city’s art map to the extent project rooms and the showroom of the Schürmann Collection all
that it now stretches out from Mitte to Kreuzberg, Wedding and line up around adjacent Rosa-Luxemburg- and Weydinger Straße.
Schöneberg. (Don’t necessarily expect a gastronomic infrastructure Susuru in Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße offers very good Japanese noodle
there.) Moreover, many young galleries are not listed on the Index, soups, and Bar 3 on Weydinger Straße is the favourite spot of the local
Berlin’s omnipresent gallery guide. It is therefore worth asking gallerists art scene, yet a rather relaxed place to finish your day with a Kölsch,
for interesting collegial enterprises within the vicinity of their spaces. A a distinctly non-Berlin drink.
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