Amid the city-wide demonstrations and jubilation of 1 Could Labour Day, Gallery Weekend Berlin (GWB) opened its twenty first version (till 4 Could). The German capital’s main business artwork occasion this yr contains 52 galleries, with shows by Anne Imhof at Buchholz, Phung-Tien Phan at Schiefe Zähne, Cyprien Gaillard at Sprüth Magers and Marianna Simnett at Societe.
Since November 2023, the occasion has been directed by Antonia Ruder. However whereas the final version of GWB nonetheless bore the mark of her predecessor, Maike Cruse (now director of Artwork Basel), this yr extra clearly displays Ruder’s imaginative and prescient.
On this position, Ruder faces the long-standing challenges related to organising a city-wide occasion for greater than 50 strong-willed individuals and hundreds of holiday makers. She additionally faces new points which have emerged inside Berlin’s quickly shifting cultural panorama, which has been bruised by finances cuts—the town’s senator for tradition, Joe Chialo, yesterday resigned from workplace, citing the cuts as a key motive. In the meantime state censorship on topics associated to the Israel-Palestine battle continues to imperil Berlin’s status as an open-minded and tolerant artistic hub.
Under, Ruder discusses her imaginative and prescient for GWB and the way it’s navigating this tough terrain.
The Artwork Newspaper: How have you ever put your stamp on this yr’s GWB?
Antonia Ruder: “Gallery Weekend Berlin is a profitable format and that is largely due to the collaborating galleries, their excellent exhibitions, and the assist of all of the artists. I wished to increase the format by including new parts that supply deeper insights—alternatives to satisfy the artists, to know their methods of pondering and dealing, and to discover why amassing artwork can enrich one’s life. This yr, we launched a sequence of talks in cooperation with the Neue Nationalgalerie, began a podcast that gives a glance inside artists’ studios, and organised public excursions.”
To some you might sound an unconventional selection as GWB director. Your latest skilled background, working for the famend Berlin theatre Schaubühne, noticed you concentrate on bridging artwork and theatre, moderately than embedded within the business artwork world. How has your expertise knowledgeable your management of GWB?
“My background in bridging artwork and theatre, mixed with my information of Berlin, has taught me create significant dialogue between disciplines, creatives, and audiences. Whereas I used to be already aware of the artwork market, I’ve all the time approached it as one thing that additionally wants context, dialog, and connection.”
In a blow to the town, Berlin’s cultural funding was not too long ago reduce by €130m, with an extra €15m deliberate subsequent yr. With establishments struggling to make up the shortfall, is the business sector stepping in to assist? Might an occasion like GWB goal to deal with this challenge and enhance cultural establishments?
“It’s true that the latest cuts to cultural funding have hit Berlin onerous—particularly smaller establishments and impartial areas. Whereas the business sector alone can’t fill that hole, it does have a job to play. The galleries have all the time aimed to assist the broader creative ecosystem of the town. By partnerships — like this yr’s collaboration with the Neue Nationalgalerie—we attempt to construct bridges between non-public initiatives and public establishments. We see GWB as a platform that brings visibility, dialogue, and assist to Berlin’s various artwork scene. In occasions like these, that mission turns into much more vital.”
GWB held its first version in 2005, when the artwork honest mannequin was ascendant and comparatively unchallenged. Immediately, many galleries are trying to find options. Do you suppose the gallery weekend mannequin can present a extra engaging substitute for artwork festivals at a time of rising prices and environmental issues?
“Gallery Weekend provides an vital and compelling different format that operates alongside the normal fair-driven artwork market. What makes it distinctive is the concentrate on the gallery house itself — on experiencing artwork the place it was meant to be seen, in direct dialogue with the artists, curators, and the town. At a time when rising prices and environmental issues are making the artwork world rethink sure buildings, codecs like GWB can provide a slower, extra sustainable, and context-rich approach of partaking with artwork.”
Berlin’s status as a free-spirited metropolis has been challenged as a consequence of rising censorship from the German state across the topic of Israel-Palestine. As {a partially} state-funded occasion (GWB has obtained funding from the the Senate Division of Financial Affairs, Vitality and Public Enterprises since 2020), does this sponsorship restrict what you may say about sure points, particularly round Palestine, Israel and anti-semitism?
“No, there have been no directives or limitations positioned on us by public funding our bodies. The collaborating galleries are fully impartial in curating their programmes and selecting which artists to current. Gallery Weekend Berlin is dedicated to creative freedom and open dialogue. As a decentralised format, it thrives on the variety of voices and views, and curatorial selections that mirror the complexity and richness of Berlin’s cultural scene. That independence is prime to the identification of the galleries programme.”
Gallery Weekend was established as a approach to attract internationals in to the town. Some teams at the moment are calling for a Strike Germany, through which tradition employees boycott Germany over its stance on the Israel-Palestine battle. What does GWB seem like on this context?
“Gallery Weekend Berlin’s mission to attract the worldwide artwork scene to Berlin has stayed true and profitable for over twenty years. Its position is much more related and wanted now, in its local weather of utmost division.”
