Berlin Gallery Weekend, the annual spring highlight in the German capital, is bound to create a buzz this year, with 54 participating galleries in the official program (see our slideshow for a comprehensive guide to the 2016 edition), as well as a plethora of related events.In an interview with German broadcaster rbb, Gallery Weekend director Maike Cruse recently called Berlin the most relevant gallery hub in the world. Known to attract many international visitors every year, the spring art fest certainly generates an abundance of shows and satellite events that bear witness to the city’s pride in its creative scenes and projects.Highlights this year include a large Tómas Saraceno installation at Esther Schipper, solo and group shows by German blue chips artists from Hanne Darboven to Tobias Rehberger, Wolfgang Tilmanns, and Carsten Nicolai, as well as the introduction of new art spaces all over town, among them CFA’s second branch in West Berlin’s Charlottenburg district, Nagel Draxler’s new space “Kabinett”, and Johann König’s St Agnes Art Church garden, which will be open to the public for the first time.Various institutions are presenting special events during Gallery Weekend 2016: Ellen Blumenstein, the parting director of KW Kunstwerke Institute for Contemporary Art, will end her farewell exhibition “Secret Surface” with the 12-hour performance program “Sunrise Sunset”, curated by Catherine Wood and Adela Yawitz. Meanwhile former art dealer and art collector Désiré Feuerle is offering a sneak preview of his Feuerle Collection (Hallesches Ufer 70, open daily from April 29 – May 7), which will also serve as one of the locations for the 9th Berlin Biennale later this year, before officially opening as a new private museum in the autumn.Christian Boros, Arthur de Ganay, the Haubrok Foundation, and the me Collectors Room will also open their doors once again, offering access to established Berlin collections.Schinkel Pavillon presents works by Adam Lindner and Shahryar Nashat, Künstlerhaus Bethanien is showcasing the art of Falkenrot laureate Gregor Hildebrandt, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt is staging a talk with art historian Antonia Majaca and media philosopher Luciana Parisi among its many offerings.Museum exhibition highlights running concurrently with Gallery Weekend include “Artist of the Year” Basim Magdy’s solo show at Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle; photographs by Stephen Shore and Hans Peter Feldmann at C/O Berlin, Erwin Wurm at Berlinische Galerie; Julian Rosefeldt’s manifesto project with Cate Blanchett at Hamburger Bahnhof; Isa Genzken and Günter Brus at Martin-Gropius-Bau; “Demopolis”, a show dedicated to public space and architecture at Akademie der Künste, and a large survey of architect Jürgen Mayer H’s work at Haus am Waldsee.Also worth checking out: “Sweat Shop“, an interactive project by local contemporary artists who have announced plans to lock themselves into a room with a large display window to produce art under sweat shop conditions; and, though not strictly artsy, “Forgotten City – Deir Ezzor” at Deutsche Kinemathek Filmmuseum, featuring a documentary by Hayyan Al-Yousouf about everyday life in his eponymous Syrian hometown from 2011–14, while militias of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) fought against government troops.Gallery Weekend, April 29 – May 1, 2016, Berlin. Openings: April 29, 6-9 pm (unless indicated otherwise); opening hours on April 30 & May 1: 11 am – 7 pm. Click here for more info.See a comprehensive guide to the 54 participating galleries’ exhibitions in the slideshow.
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