Berlin Art Week 2020 September 9-11

Despite the hand that 2020 has dealt thus far, this year’s Berlin Art Week and postponed edition of Gallery Weekend Berlin are set to kick off in nearly full swing on September 9th and 11th, respectively. There may not be any boisterous dinners or crowded openings in the traditional sense, but a plethora of noteworthy exhibitions, talks, screenings and award ceremonies will be taking place digitally and physically, with day-long openings where you can—wait for it—actually see the art on the walls. Without further ado, here are some of the most promising shows that should be at the top of your itinerary for the 2020 iterations of Berlin Art Week and Gallery Weekend Berlin. Curators of the 11th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, from left: Renata Cervetto, Agustín Pérez Rubio, María Berríos, Lisette Lagnado, photo: F. Anthea Schaap Let’s begin with the most sprawling and complex of them all: the 11th Berlin Biennial (BB11). Helmed by a team of South-American curators—María Berríos, Renata Cervetto, Lisette Lagnado, and Agustín Pérez Rubio—this edition of the Biennale has been envisioned as a series of lived experiences that evolve as a process. As such, the show already started to unfold over the course of the past year through three exhibitions-cum-experiences, deemed “moments” by the curators and titled “exp. 1,” “exp. 2,” and “exp. 3.” Each of these moments attempted to learn from and build sustainable relationships with the participating artists and projects as well as with the city and people of Berlin. Having wrapped up “exp. 3” earlier this summer, the stage is now set for the “epilogue,” which opened on September 5th. Titled “The Crack Begins Within”—words taken from a poem by Iman Mersal—the epilogue is an exercise of mutual recognition, an acknowledgement of the cracks in our systems, of those broken by them and their struggles. Works by artists like Pacita Abad, Noor Abuarafeh, Deanna Bowen, Francisco Copello, Cian Dayrit, Käthe Kollwitz, Katarina Zdjelar, and many others will be spread throughout KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Gropius Bau, daad Galerie, and ExRotaprint. Magical Soup, exhibition view Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, photo: Mathias Völzke BB11 is a staple of Berlin Art Week’s official agenda, which also includes institutional exhibitions like “Magical Soup” at Hamburger Bahnhof. Featuring work by artists ranging from Nam June Paik to Lawrence Weiner to Pipilotti Rist to Anne Imhof, Nicole Wermers, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Christine Sun Kim, Sandra Mujinga, and many others, the show takes the intersection of sound, image, and social space as its starting point and goes on to explore the power with which these medias can create, reveal or hide reality. The works on view will feature precise observations, forms of radical self-expression, and deliberate the deconstruction of identity. While at Hamburger Bahnhof, it’s also worth visiting Katharina Grosse’s much buzzed about exhibition, “It Wasn’t Us” (the installations are so large that it would be nearly impossible to miss anyway!). POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair, photo: Clara Wenzel-Theiler  Berlin Art Week and Gallery Weekend Berlin 2020 extend much further, into the digital realm and beyond. We must admit that we’ll certainly miss the bustling openings and the lower probability of chance encounters (not to mention the inability to meet many of the exhibiting artists who will be installing their shows remotely via Zoom), but hey, at least we can encourage you to leave the screen and explore the city’s rejuvenated art scene—something that three months ago we wouldn’t have thought possible. Stay healthy and best wishes, The Exhibitionary team #berlinartweek#fineartmagazine#artfun