Photoreport: Art Berlin 2017 contemporary art fair

15/09/2017

Photo: Elina Ije

Art Berlin 2017, an art fair taking place during the sixth-ever Berlin Art Week – is going on through September 17 at Station Berlin in the city’s Kreuzberg neighborhood. During this week the capital city’s art spaces invite the public to come and experience exhibitions as well as film and video screenings specially curated for the event. As a sparkling culmination of the metropolis’ saturated cultural scene, the diverse program has attracted the undivided attention of an international audience.

At the start of the year, Daniel Hug, the director of the Art Cologne art fair, laid out a new strategy: “Berlin is Europe’s current center for art; Cologne is the traditional center for the art market. The organizers of Art Cologne, together with Berlin’s gallerists and the previous abc (art berlin contemporary) art fair, are combining these two strong sides so that this year, a new modern and contemporary art fair can open its doors – Art Berlin.” And at what better time than during Berlin Art Week?

Art Berlin, however, cannot be described as a classic art fair. If that were the case, it wouldn’t fit in with the city’s dynamic character, nor would it attract the attention of its culture- and art-loving people and collectors who demand originality. The legendary tourism motto of Berlin – “Poor but sexy” – in its most positive sense, can be applied to what Art Berlin has to offer – the accessible and topical.

The Nordic countries are being represented at the fair by the following galleries: Andersen’s (Copenhagen), Avlskarl (Copenhagen), Galleri Bo Bjerggaard (Copenhagen), Galerie Forsblom (Helsinki/Stockholm), Galleri Opdahl (Stavanger), and Galleri Magnus Karlsson (Stockholm).

Maximilian Rödel. Gallery Fiebach-Minninger, Cologne