Chris Dercon, image by Frank Senftleben and courtesy of bz-berlin.de
For years, Berlin has been considered a beacon of opportunity and freedom in the art world. It often ranks high in lists of world cities and, recently, three of its residents made it onto ArtReview‘s list of the top 10 most powerful people in the arts. Even the former Tate Modern director Chris Dercon seemed to be enamoured with the city, which he once referred to as “cosmopolitan”. But since Dercon’s appointment as the next director of the theatre institution Volksbühne two years ago, the mood has been far from chirpy.
First, his announcements of reform were received with a formal complaint from the theatre’s staff as well as a brief strike. And last week at a conference in the Belgian embassy in Berlin he expressed his discontent with the city, labeling German theater as old-fashioned, its contemporary art as unimaginative and Berlin a non-world city. Ouch or as the Germans utter: aua!
“I come from London, I come from the art market. I am responsible for Brexit, the climate change, I am neoliberal, I stand for the event culture.” – Chris Dercon
Chris Dercon in Istanbul
“I do not know if I can help Berlin” – Chris Dercon
It’s unclear why Dercon has fallen foul of the city he’s chosen to live in after Brussels, New York, Rotterdam, Munich, and London. But despite his claim, he remains humorous and self-critical. “I know the arguments against me,” he said. “I come from London, I come from the art market. I am responsible for Brexit, the climate change, I am neoliberal, I stand for the event culture.”
“The state of art is very weak at the moment, in repetitions and stereotypes, it sucks up other disciplines,” he said. But not all is bad: at least for him there are two artists in the city he thinks are very good: Wolfgang Tillmans and Hito Steyerl. Never mind the shade, though, as the good director that he is, Dercon is aware that his job is also to galvanise and agitate the system.
Does this mean that Berlin is over? Probably not. Chris Dercon has a vision, and he has an extended concept of culture that he now claim he doesn’t think Berlin is ready for. However, these scathing remarks have to be taken with a pinch of salt. Dercon does have a point: Berlin has long been hindered by bureaucracy, inefficiency and a certain provinciality that will take years overcome.
“I do not know if I can help Berlin, Willkommenskultur is something else,” he remarked on the reaction against his proposals. Chris Dercon knows what he’s doing and Berlin can only gain from his criticism.