Berlin Art Week 2022 opens on Wednesday and runs through the end of the week (September 14th-18th). Maybe the most noticeable difference from previous years is that this one feels, well, mostly normal. There aren’t any vaccination checks, or mask mandates, or testing requirements – everyone gets to go back to more comfortable problems, like figuring out which events look the most chic, and what to wear, and who to go with. After two years of everything living in the shadow of a global pandemic, it’s a welcome and refreshing return to the seasonal form.
Below you’ll find a selection of the shows SLEEK is most excited about this year. One tip and one quick takeaway. Tip: Lots of these shows have opening parties on the 13th, so if you’re into free booze and rubbing elbows with fashionable types, this is a good time to do it. Takeaway: Some of the most exciting shows this year are happening basically in Gruenwald, of all places – Mona Hatoum at the Georg Kolbe Museum and Leila Hekmat at Haus am Waldsee. It’s hard to imagine anyone getting too excited about the idea of a newly invigorated Charlottenburg/Zehlendorf arts scene, but there you go.
PIÑA, WHY IS THE SKY BLUE? – Stephanie Comilang and Simon Speiser – Julia Stoschek Collection Berlin
In their first solo exhibition in Germany, Berlin-based artists Stephaine Comilang and Simon Speiser bring a virtual-reality and video installation to the Julia Stoschek Collection. The piece envisions a spiritual medium Artificial Intelligence, Piña, who is able to gather knowledge from around the world and use it to protect and preserve human culture. What’s most interesting here is the consideration of how old forms of developing and recording knowledge have bearing on a future in which AI looms increasingly large.
Image Courtesy of Stephanie Comilang and Simon Speiser.
Processing the Anthropocene – Giulia Bruno and Armin Linke – Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW)
The concept of the Anthropocene is showing up all over the place these days, and basically refers to the period of time that humans have existed on earth, the “Anthropocene Era”. Giulia Bruno and Armin Linke’s work was developed through a collaboration with the Anthropocene Working Group, which concerns itself, among other things, with identifying the geological markers of this era. How will we be remembered? What will we leave behind?
The Sorcerer and The Worm – Ed Atkins – Eden Eden and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi
Ed Atkins is so fucking cool that all he needs to do is plop his name on something and our ears prick up. For Berlin Art Week, he’s opening two shows of new work, one at Eden Eden and the other at Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi. The former hosts a screening of the feature-length film The Sorcerer, and the latter will include new video work, paintings, and some text pieces. Normally you’d think it’s a bit much to do two shows at once, but Atkins can pull it off.
Image Courtesy of Ed Atkins and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi.
Spiritual Abstractions – Keith Boadwee – Dittrich & Schlechtriem
Everybody loves saying that painting is dead, but fortunately they also seem to love being proved wrong about that. Keith Boadwee’s playful renderings of fish and frogs staring through rounded glass invite you to think about all the different meanings of the words light and perspective. They’re also sweet and fun, and we deserve that too, don’t we?
ALL Image Courtesy of Keith Boadwee and Dittrich & Schlechtriem.
Female Remedy – Leila Hekmat – Haus am Waldsee
Another one of Berlin Art Week’s blockbuster listings, Leila Hekmat will transform Haus am Waldsee into a women’s religious sanitorium. Expect a largely immersive experience, with live performance throughout the interior and gardens, with a focus on the human psyche. As the inaugural exhibition of the new director, Anna Gritz (formerly curator at the KW), the show signals a newly articulated force in the Berlin art scene.
LEFT Image Courtesy of Leila Hekmat RIGHT Image Courtesy of Leila Hekmat and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi.
Mona Hatoum – Mona Hatoum – Georg Kolbe Museum
Heavyweight Mona Hatoum will be taking over Georg Kolbe Museum with a range of works from across her storied career. Hatoum’s brand of large-scale installations that are both politically infused and highly personal have emboldened and inspired generations of artists. The elegant quietude of the Georg Kolbe Museum is an apt frame for a broad view of Hatoum’s life and work.
Image Courtesy of Mona Hatoum and Georg Kolbe Museum.
Hallen #3 – Various Artists – Wilhelm Hallen
Wilhelm Hallen is a massive space that aggregates collections from some of Berlin’s top galleries, including alexander levy, Esther Schipper, Klemm’s, Soy Capitán, and many others. It’s basically its own festival inside the festival and requires a lot less walking from one place to another. We’re a bit biased on this one because Sleek is co-curated show at Wilhelm Hallen, I SEE YOU, which includes work from big names like Martin Eder and Lars Eidinger, as well as works from emerging artists. But, then again, we wouldn’t have curated it if we didn’t think it was worth seeing!
LEFT Image Courtesy of Saâdane Afif and Mehdi Chouakri RIGHT Image Courtesy of Jonas Roßmeißl and Klemm's Berlin.
Women Would Do It Differently – Marion Mandeng – Raum für Kunst
If you’ve already visited the Louise Bourgeois show at Gropius Bau and are looking for a slightly deeper cut, Mandeng’s exhibition at KIB is a good place to go next. Mendeng’s recent work has been to enwrap objects typically associated with masculine labor – a pickaxe, a drill, a shovel – by crocheting them in pink and black yarn. A surprisingly sharp deployment of fuzzy colorful materials.
Image Courtesy of Marion Mandeng and KBI Raum für Kunst.
Soft Approximations – Katja Novitskova – Kraupa Tuskany Zeidler
Katja Novitskova’s work feels like when you go to your art-school friend’s group show in some loft where most of the stuff is super high-concept-low-execution and for whatever reason there always has to be one performance artist who gets naked and reads tarot, and you’re a bit bored, but then all of a sudden you step into some room that has one really actually impressive piece in it, and you stay with this piece for a while, and it makes the whole event worthwhile. Novitskova’s work distinguishes itself largely on sheer talent – she has a unique eye and an exacting, uncompromising approach to the realization of her imaginations.
Image Courtesy of Katja Novitskova and Kraupa Tuscany Zeidler.
Seven Avant-Gardes, Seven Utopias – Lettrisme, CoBra, Internationale Lettrisme, Bauhaus Immaginista, Internationale Situationniste, SPUR, Nouveau Réalisme – EAM Collective
For anyone who wishes they, too, got to live in Paris in the 1960s and drink absinthe and smoke filtered cigarettes and sometimes see Guy Debord at a cafe. A survey in different visions of the Avant-Garde from the collectors Elke and Arno Morenz, who lived in the midst of these movements. Promises to be both intimate and broad-reaching in scope.
ALL Image Courtesy of Elke and Arno Morenz Collection.
Roundtable: The Amazon and the Indigenous Huni Kuin before the elections in Brazil with Dr. Maritta Koch-Weser, Alexandra Schwarz-Schillung and Rita Huni Kuin – Mahalla
The Amazon and the indigenous people of Brazil are in a critical situation. Rita Huni Kuin, Indiginous artist & activist will give first hand insights, Dr. Maritta Koch-Weser with four decades of experience in international development, as anthropologist, environmentalist, and social entrepreneur will help us understand this complex issue and show ways to solve it. Alexandra Schwarz-Schililng, founder of Living Gaia e.V. and the Land Purchase Project will bring in her expertise with a concrete approach. Join the roundtable here.