Vibrancy, dignity and naïvety — Niko Pirosmani

Fisherman in a Red Shirt, The Collection of Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts of Georgia © Infinitart Foundation

Giraffe, The Collection of Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts of Georgia © Infinitart Foundation

Tatar Camel Driver, The Collection of Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts of Georgia © Infinitart Foundation

Niko Pirosmani is a legendary, mythical figure. The Georgian artist (1862–1918) is one of modern art’s enigmatic loners. Depicting both people and animals with profound dignity, his subjects often look out at the viewer in a manner both insistent and detached. Bathed in harmonious stillness, they are endowed with a fascinating presence. Using vibrant colours on a black background, Pirosmani painted iconic images of glowing intensity. Featuring around 50 major paintings, Fondation Beyeler hosts the most comprehensive international exhibition of Pirosmani’s work to date. 

LITTLE RED RIDING WOOD

© Jan Bitter

© Jan Bitter

From lumber port to border zone, from brownfield site to the legendary club Bar25 to a co-operative cultural district drawing 500,000 visitors per year: The Holzmarkt Berlin was and will be a lot of things. Now, an all-wood building has entered the scene: Red and robust, Haus 2+ sets out to expand the architectural possibilities of timber while remaining true to a tight budget and the highest energy efficiency standards. It’s a friendly parasite that uses the open-air stairwell of the neighbouring building, to eliminate the need for its own CO2-intensive circulation space. Designed by Office ParkScheerbarth, its compact and curvy shape offers individual room layouts for a diverse mix of tenants: A tattoo parlour and a physiotherapist, a bakery and a booker, an artist and a photographer.

Festive weekend at Studio Mondial enlivens Ku’damm

© Stephanie Comilang, Still from How To Make A Painting From Memory, Video, ChertLüdde

© DAF (Dynamische Akustische Forschung), Pieces of Attention, Production Still, Ebensperger 

© Adrian Ganea, Dance of the Butterflies, Plan B Cluj

© Elisa Giardina Papa’s, U Scantu, A Disorderly Tale, Galerie Tanja Wagner

Held at Studio Mondial on Kurfürstendamm, GALLERY WEEKEND FESTIVAL will feature an extensive programme of performances, screenings, sound pieces, readings and installations. More than 40 of Gallery Weekend Berlin’s galleries presenting on 2 days their contributions by their artists, focusing mostly on younger positions that oscillate between traditional disciplines in a non-hierarchical way and thus open up new spaces of experience.

WAKE UP BABY, NEW ARMCHAIR JUST DROPPED

Armchair 32, Blockbau © Michelle Mantel

Armchair 32, Blockbau © Michelle Mantel

Blockbau’s new 32 armchair is like one of those friends we all have who are understated and demure, yet can easily turn into the life of the party. With its curvaceous mirrored frame contrasted by discreet, geometric upholstery, the new addition to the family can easily stand out alone or enliven a group scenario. Its circular seat and backrest come in a wide range of fabric options: from powdery pastels to statement colours and rich textures. With its modernist and sleek aesthetic, the armchair manages to be light and robust at the same time. Like its siblings in the series, the frame is manufactured in Bavaria, whereas the fabric covers are sewn by a family business in the Swabian Alb/Jura, and the foam comes from Baden-Württemberg. Made in Southern Germany, like all Blockbau furniture.

Gravity’s Tune

Annika Kahrs, Gravity’s Tune (Filmstill), 2023, Courtesy the artist and Produzentengalerie Hamburg

Annika Kahrs, Gravity’s Tune (Filmstill), 2023, Courtesy the artist and Produzentengalerie Hamburg

Gravitational waves are a propagating phenomenon that travel at the speed of light and are caused by, among other things, the collision of black holes. In “Gravity’s Tune”, Kahrs approaches these extra-terrestrial sounds through music in collaboration with composer Louis d’Heudières. Her work, presented at the Schering Stiftung, shows how astrophysics recordings can be used to stimulate our imagination and offer insights in otherwise inaudible and enigmatic celestial wonders.

Nordic Fever — Edvard Munch at Berlinische Galerie

Sitzende Frau

Edvard Munch, Seated model on a divan, 1924-1926 photo: © MUNCH, Oslo / Ove Kvavik

Landschaft mit Brücke

Edvard Munch, starry nights, 1922-1924 Photo: © MUNCH, Oslo / Juri Kobayashi

Magic of the North focuses on Edvard Munch’s pivotal biographical proximity to Berlin. Gripped by the fever for all things Nordic at the time, the Berliner Künstler association invited the young, unknown artists to a solo exhibition in 1892. His colourful paintings shook the public and the exhibition was forced to close shortly after opening. The “Munch Affair”, as the press sardonically called it, is widely considered the beginning of Modernism in Berlin and brought the artists a lot of attention. Riding that wave of shock and awe, Munch discovered Berlin as a place where he could develop his radical modernity and it became one of the most important European hot spots for his career.

Where are all we? What is maintained? Where are the mountains?

Diver, 2022, 
Courtesy of max goelitz Photo: Marjorie Brunet Plaza

Portrait Rindon Johnson 2022, Photo: Clifford Prince King

Rindon Johnson’s show FIVE at gallery Max Goelitz is based on “Clattering”, a sci-fi novel created in collaboration with writer Rainer Diana Hamilton. The exhibition – mirroring the novel – is a proposition for open-mindedness, multiplicity and stands in opposition to the organizational states of our world, often built on forms of dualism: relationships, hierarchal structures, systems of reproduction and resource control. Mostly using leather for his object-based pieces in the show, he closely examines social conventions and echoes the novel by referencing everything from industrial processes, treatment of human beings, permeability, vulnerability to questions of identity.

GROUNDING THE VITRA CAMPUS

The Tane House at the Vitra Campus, © Julien Lanoo

Tane House, Detail, © Julien Lanoo

The Vitra Campus (in Weil am Rhein) is welcoming a new addition: A Garden House by Japanese architect Tsuyoshi Tane.⁠ Made from sustainable and locally sourced materials such as water reed, fir and oak, the compact building explores the correlation between memory and place. Measuring 15sqm, the Tane Garden House has been designed to store tools for the adjacent Oudolf Garden as well as to accompany the new kitchen garden for Vitra employees. Aside from outdoor seating and a small fountain, the project features an observation platform on the building’s roof, offering a 360-degree view of the entire Vitra Campus. 

LUME: THE LIGHT THAT SHINES ANEW IN FRANKFURT

LUME Boutique Hotel, © Robert Rieger

Formerly known as the Neckarvillen Boutique, the hotel has reinvented itself as LUME. The concept is defined by contrasts: Here, upscale interiors meet casual urbanity, historic architecture meets heartfelt design and the business traveller meets the city’s creative scene. Needless to say that the beauty of contrasts is fully embraced in the interior design too. Foodwise, the in-house gastronomy stands strong: The restaurant Le Petit Royal Frankfurt, an offshoot of Berlin’s well-known Grill Royal, and the French Bento Bar offer fresh interpretations of French classics. 

2 YEARS OF SUNDAYS AT THE MUSEUM

Museum Sunday Berlin. Graphic: Büro Bum Bum, Illustration: Sany DK

Since July 2021, the first Sunday of every month has been Museum Sunday in Berlin, with free admission to almost all of the city’s museums. Now over 70 participating museums look back on the last 2 years, counting over 1 million visits to various exhibitions and events centred around art, design, culture, history, technology, nature and religion. From the storied institutions of the Museum Island to district museums and private foundations, the wide array of participating museums as well as the engaging programmes and charming campaign have contributed to firmly establishing the initiative in Berlin’s cultural landscape.

LOTS OF PLANS FOR HAMBURG

Exhibition View @ KAWAHARA KRAUSE ARCHITECTS

Collage @ KAWAHARA KRAUSE ARCHITECTS

@ KAWAHARA KRAUSE ARCHITECTS, Strobo B M

Model @ KAWAHARA KRAUSE ARCHITECTS

170 competitions with 1,427 designs on 1,105 hanging banners: the exhibition “The Entire City. Hamburg Competitions 2017–2023”  presents the full breadth of ideas for the future of Hamburg. Around 6,000 plans form a hanging archive that fills the industrial hall of Schuppen 29 in the HafenCity quarter next to the Elbe River and create a walk-in installation that makes the density of ideas visually and physically tangible. 

AM SEEGARTEN

Am Seegarten 1/2, Kirchmöser. Photos: Clemens Poloczek

Am Seegarten 1/2, Kirchmöser. Photos: Clemens Poloczek

Am Seegarten 1/2, Kirchmöser. Photos: Clemens Poloczek

Am Seegarten 1/2, Kirchmöser. Photos: Clemens Poloczek

Opening in July, Am Seegarten is a temporary exhibition project on the fabled grounds of the former industrial town of Kirchmöser. The exhibition brings together silent green Kulturquartier and nine galleries — Alexander Levy, Barbara Weiss, ChertLüdde, Ebensperger, Esther Schipper, Klosterfelde Edition, Meyer Riegger, Plan B and Sprüth Magers — with selected artworks from their respective programmes. Site- and time-specific, the project is inspired by the compound’s rich history and complex beauty. In fact, the beautiful shoreline of Plauder See is only a couple of steps and one refreshing drink away. Pro tip: pack your bathing suit for a post-art swim!

WELCOME TO MAIAMI

Maiami Chania

© Maiami, photo by Vicky Tsatsampa

Maiami Chania

© Maiami, photo by Vicky Tsatsampa

Maiami Chania

© Maiami, photo by Vicky Tsatsampa

Housed in a quaint art-deco building in the less frequented part of Chania’s port, Maiami is a cozy hybrid space that functions as brasserie with seafront terrace and artist studio run by Alexandra Manousakis. Behind the characteristic pink doors and windows: White-washed stone walls, original terrazzo floors, an impressive emerald green fireplace and blue retro chairs fill the main dining area. Dotted all around, Alexandra’s vibrant artworks and colourful, hand-painted ceramics.

AN ELYSIUM OF SORTS

Martin Eder, Save Me, 2023. Photo: Uwe Walter. Courtesy Studio Martin Eder

Martin Eder, A Glimpse of Infinity, 2023. Photo: Uwe Walter. Courtesy Studio Martin Eder

Martin Eder, Embraced by silence, 2023. Photo: Uwe Walter. Courtesy Studio Martin Eder

Martin Eder’s hallmarks might be gloomy landscapes, naked buts and furry kittens, or else, motifs that challenge what we take as given. In his latest show at Eigen+Art, one enters, unforeseen, a sort of isle of the blessed − a paradise that shines out of his paintings in fifty pastel shades. There, all faces glow. And healing, happiness and idyll beckon. Yet unlike the beauty idealization unleashed by social media, Eder does not erase any pores, birthmarks, wrinkles, dents, or bruises. He instead provides his figures with a dampness of sweat, which, in the words of art critic Anne Waak, “can only come from the dew of paradisiacal meadows”.

STANDING THE TEST OF TIME

Verändert die Welt! Poesie muss von allen gemacht werden!, Kunstverein München, 1970

Frauentreffen der deutschen Frauenemanzipationsgruppen, Kunstverein München, Februar 1973

Liam Gillick, Three Perspectives and a Short Scenario* Work, Mirrored Image/ A ‘Volvo’ bar, Kunstverein München, 2008

Bea Schlingelhoff, Vergessene Frauen und die „Entartete Kunstausstellung“, Kunstverein München, 2021

This year KM Kunstverein München is celebrating its 200th Anniversary. Revisiting and making accessible its forward-thinking, iconic, and at times, very controversial history has been Maurin Dietrich’s primary focus from her very start as a director. Central to the jubilee is the exhibition “THE ARCHIVE AS…”, for which two centuries of archival documents have been painstakingly reviewed, questioned and (re)contextualized. Did you know that George Condo, Jeff Koons or Adrian Piper had their first solo shows in Germany at KM? Or that the same exhibition halls that once hosted the infamous “Entartete Kunst” exhibition by the Nazi regime, turned during the 70s into a place to meet and organize political protests i.e. in favor of women’s emancipation and abortion rights?