Berlin's art world: the year ahead

Where next for Berlin? Since 2010, the city has bid farewell to such staples as the Temporäre Kunsthalle, the Forum art fair and galleries of all stripes. The growth, pace and dynamic of the city’s art scene will shift and evolve over the next year, but in what direction? Arsalan Mohammad rounds up some of Berlin's notable art figures to discuss what the future has has in store.

The economy has been kicking yet more green shoots of development and growth into the dust, but then, these little tendrils, optimistic and stubborn, move elsewhere, finding other patches of sunlight – the expansion of the Gallery Weekend programme, the flamboyant ‘Based in Berlin’ jamboree, new galleries opening, new work on display, the ever hectic calendars of events, openings, parties, vernissages, finissages, backyard BBQs and pop-up shows. Time Out quizzed a selection of the city’s movers and shakers to gauge their feelings about where we are right now and to cast their predictions as to what the next 12 months will have in store for this most lively and contrary art scene…

Alex Levy, gallery owner

The work of the galleries in Berlin will become more and more important for the city, because politicians aren’t saving or developing cultural potential as well as they could. Therefore the institutions are limited in their possibilities, so new forms of exhibition organised by the local galleries, such as ‘Art Berlin Contemporary’, are going to be really important.

Berlin needs more institutions, which show young contemporary artists who are not known internationally, like the Temporäre Kunsthalle was doing. ‘Based In Berlin’ had this aim, but failed: they chose artists who had already been part of the market for a long time. Ultimately, Berlin is still the most important place for art in Germany and one of the most important places in Europe.

Alex Levy is the founder and director of Levy Galerie in Berlin.

David Ulrichs, writer and publicist

This time last year, Berlin had just recovered from its sixth Biennale, a long-winded affair with an over-abundance of video works – a mistake repeated only a few months later by Berlin’s most schizophrenic art event, ‘Art Berlin Contemporary’, which tried desperately hard to look like an exhibition, but was in fact an art fair. And then, early 2011 saw the ousting of three Berlin-based galleries from Art Basel by a selection committee that included three gallerists residing in the German capital – arguably, a Berlin issue.

Billed as an exhibition to show the best of young artists working in the city, ‘Based in Berlin’ was a failed, nostalgic attempt by Klaus Biesenbach and Hans-Ulrich Obrist to relive the success of the first two Berlin Biennales. However, the city needs a platform for the young galleries where they can showcase their entire programme in an inexpensive way. This year the seventh Berlin Biennale curated by Arthur Zmijewski will be a highlight. As Maurizio Cattelan already showed a few years ago, artist-curated biennales are memorable.

David Ulrichs is an art writer and publicist based in Berlin.

Adam Saks, painter

Depending on the financial situation in the US – as the art scene is connected to the financial developments there – the next 12 months could look pretty bleak for Berlin. If the American economy tumbles, it drags the European economy down with it. In August 2012 I think it will be pretty much the same as now, however with fewer galleries (some are already closing down) and fewer artists on the radar, I’m afraid… We might then see smaller ‘underground’ shows with a more personal touch emerging, as bigger gallery spaces struggle and close in this economic environment.

Adam Saks is a Danish-born painter living and working in Berlin.

Javier Peres, art dealer

Galleries in Berlin seem to be very adaptable to change and react very quickly to the demands of the market because we are less burdened by the large overheads that our counterparts have in other cities; plus we have an abundance of working artists in our own backyard, which makes staying on top of what artists are making much more convenient. 

I always find it interesting to see which artists continue to develop after having a moment in a large publicised exhibition like ‘Based in Berlin’. Personally, I thought ‘Based in Berlin’ was great! I think that it should become a fixed thing that gives the world a sort of gauge of what is happening in Berlin. But typically, very few artists that participate in these large events continue to have a career, and of those that do, even fewer continue to develop and garner attention. But there are several artists that participated in this that I think will continue to make interesting work and get attention – Simon Fujiware, Jeremy Shaw, Cyprien Gaillard and AIDS 3-D.

Javier Peres is a contemporary art dealer who operates Peres Projects in Berlin and previously had locations in Los Angeles, California, Athens, Greece and a project space in New York.

John von Bergen, artist

I think many big galleries will start becoming one big merged conglomeration. For instance a couple of years ago galleries like ‘Capitan Petzel’ opened their doors here: soon I can imagine something like ‘Capitan Petzel Schulte Kamm and Scheibler LLP’, like some ostentatious law firm.

I was happy to hear Art Forum Berlin was closing. Hopefully it will influence other fairs to close – I honestly think that there needs to be a better system for getting art seen and bought. There is no serious infrastructure for helping artists in Berlin, with one grant from the senate going out to a lucky 15 artists every year. It's such a tough existence for most, and could be why half of the artists here are on welfare, while the other half pack their bags after their parents’ allowance runs out.

John von Bergen is an American-born artist living in Berlin.

Anna Redeker, curator

One of the lowest points of the past 12 months was definitely the closing down of Art Forum Berlin. Although it was not really a major league, international fair, for some younger art galleries in Berlin, it was an important platform in which they could present their programme. Its closure says a lot about the art scene in Berlin – it’s a mess regulated by a happy few.

Who would I tip to look out for over the next year? Agathe de Bailliencourt, Theo Ligthart, Adrien Missika, and Christian Awe. And keep an eye on Gallery Weekend – it’s getting more and more important. Nobody needs another ‘Based In Berlin’ – just take a free afternoon to wander around some Berlin art galleries.

Anna Redeker is an independent freelance curator living and working in Berlin.

Despina Stokou, artist, critic and editor

Oh no, please not another ‘Based In Berlin’ in 2012, I would rather watch Fassbinder’s Alexanderplatz backwards. Berlin has enjoyed a peculiar stalemate status for decades now – that might be bad for the economy but has enabled the city to have this special character everybody is so crazy about. It is probably not a good idea to ask a Greek about art-funding, it’s a completely alien concept to me; if I asked somebody in Athens which projects should benefit more from our state funding next year, he would laugh himself to tears.

But looking forward, I’m hopeful that the Berlin Biennale will manage to face the ghosts of Biennales past. And I think if Ai Wei Wei comes to teach at the Universität der Künste we will be hearing his name a lot.

Despina Stokou is an artist, critic and editor of the Berlin art listings site and blog BPIGS.

Aaron Moulton, artist and gallery founder

‘Based in Berlin’ masqueraded a language of scientific reasoning and institutional posturing to pay lip service to the galleries or artists that are typically elevated. The result was like an algorithm for the obvious: a Facebook biennale.

One can never be sure of the actual reality of the market in the art world due to the unwavering need to be optimistic and avoid doubt like the plague. It makes for interesting social theatre to ask how things are going, especially at an art fair: 2008 never happened for most of the art world. When Greece and others default then the local and European collectors will become more frugal about their collecting of unsafe art (a 40% discount is the new 10%).

The next 12 months? Google’s new Panda algorithm will be applied to aesthetics and content making the work of the curator, magazine and critic obsolete. Eventually artists too will be shown up by the program’s voracious ability to predict trends and execute and then self-critically contradict them. Panda’s constant roulette-like shuffling of the advanced and rearguard will finally make things unpredictable. Berlin will become a central hub of outsourcing for Panda Creative Productions.

Aaron Moulton is a curator and founder of the exhibition space FEINKOST. He is currently Associate Editor of the exhibitions quarterly AGMA and editor of the satire anthology An Art Newspaper: Special DECADE Issue.

See all art venues in Berlin