Berlin's 5th Biennal for Contemporary Art got underway on 5 April this year and the opening weekend was a packed diary affair involving precision planning to take in all the major happenings going on in the city.
This year, the sense that Berlin is still the world's most exciting city for the contemporary art world has never been stronger as the whole international art crowd and its society satellites descended en masse: lunching, brunching and trawling their way through the myriad of events.
Click here to see images of the venues and the art works
The Biennal itself, which runs until 15 June, is not an easy show to view. Subtitled: 'When things cast no shadow', it is a strangely introverted affair with works reflecting a wide range of themes from the 'failure of the modern ideal' to the nature of documentation and narrative as well as belonging and not belonging - particularly in an urban context.
The curators Adam Szymczyk and Elena Filopovic spread their show across four very different venues: the traditional white contemporary art space of the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, the imposing black and glass cube of Mies van der Rohe's seminal Neue National Galerie, a strip of wasteland where part of the Berlin Wall once stood in Mitte and a strangely classicist pavilion from 1969 designed by former Bauhaus architect Richard Paulick.
The choice of venues is significant since the sense that contemporary art is currently engaged in an intense dialogue with architecture and the urban condition is strong. Unfortunately with there being so many international artists now living, working and exhibiting in Berlin, many of them seem unable to relinquish that slightly touristy obsession with commenting on the nature of the city and its history which can get just a little tiring after a while.
The Biennal is divided into two sections: day and night. There are two mini catalogues in diary format to help plan visits to the different daytime exhibitions and performances and night time happenings and art party gatherings changing daily for the entire duration of the show.
Back at the opening weekend there was a chance to see sneak previews of a number of new venues in town. A private party in the Boros bunker gave many a first glimpse of the newly completed conversion of a huge former bunker in Mitte into a residence and gallery for Germany's answer to Charles Saatchi, Christian Boros.
The architects, Realarchitektur, have done a fine job in creating a stripped-down concrete space to house some 500 works including pieces by Tracey Emin, John Bock, Damien Hirst and Berlin resident Olafur Eliasson. It will be open for viewing 'by appointment only' as of early June, although Boros' stunning glass penthouse apartment on the top floor is sadly out of bounds.
Our favourite 'made in Berlin' magazine, 032c, also had a party to launch its new exhibition space called the Museum Store. Situated in a strange GDR-style space that used to belong to the foreign office, it has new vitrines specially designed by Konstantin Grcic to house exhibitions that will run parallel to the bi-annual magazine themes and is kicking off with a geopolitical exhibition entitled 'Slavs and Tatars' which runs until 27 April.
Last but not least is a new art venue by the river behind the city's main contemporary art gallery, the Hamburger Bahnhof, and not far from the recently opened Berlin branch of Haunch of Venison. Called the Halle am Wasser, it is a converted warehouse space refurbished by Pott Architekten and covered with an intriguing white crystalline skin. Some of the best of Berlin's independent galleries such as Arndt & Partner , Jarmuschek & Partner , Loock and Bodhi Berlin will be relocating here as of 2 May when the city's next big art gathering takes place: the Gallery-Weekend.
INFORMATION
- Event dates
- 5 April 2008 to 15 June 2008
