Berlin’s Gallery Scene

From small private initiatives hidden in obscure courtyards, to larger, more established ventures, Berlin’s gallery scene has become a hotspot for the arts in Europe. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a combination of affordable rent prices, a semi-liberal artistic climate, a well-known counterculture, and endless open spaces caused the city to attract artists from around the world. Today, the city is a kaleidoscope of anti-establishment street art and sophisticated galleries, creating an art world that is as impressive as it is diverse: all waiting to be discovered on this art tour of Berlin.

Since the fall of the Wall in 1989, Berlin has become the artistic magnet of Europe. The city’s rise as a hotspot for the arts can be attributed to affordable rents which initially attracted artists to Berlin, as well as its semi-liberal artistic climate in combination with its seemingly endless open spaces. Walking through the city, it seems as if art is literally unfolding itself like a colorful kaleidoscope on every corner. In recent years, a vibrant and sophisticated gallery scene has emerged, contributing vitality and diversity to Berlin’s art world. 

Berlin’s unique gallery landscape spans from small private initiatives hidden in obscure courtyards and basements, to larger, more established ventures, and everything in between. Although Berlin hardly has an international buying clientele, cultural richness seems to continuously flourish nonetheless. A global clientele is flown in twice a year during two important art fairs: The Gallery Weekend in the beginning of May and the Berlin Art Week in September—the former, a joint program of simultaneous openings across town clustering about fifty of the city’s galleries and the latter, a mixture of an art fair and a small biennale.

Like most things in Berlin, the gallery scene is fragmented and diverse. This exclusive tour brings you to the most important gallery hubs of Berlin. For your benefit, we alter the course of the tour depending on the strength of current shows and on the major art events of the season. For example, your art historian guide may decide to start your journey in Mitte, in the Auguststraße, where we will uncover a wealth of galleries and institutions. Kunst Werke is a contemporary art institution founded in the early 1990s showing a wide range of art from mixed media retrospectives to giant installations and sound performances, allowing innovation and curatorial creativity running across five floors. We can then move on to several smaller and more intimate galleries in the vicinity of these institutions in both the Auguststraße and Linienstraße, such as Galerie Eigen + Art and ifa Galerie. The tour route might also include festivals such as the Berlin Biennale when it’s in town or the Berlin Art Week.

Another potential focus of the tour (again at the discretion of your expert art historian guide) is Potsdamer Straße. Over the past five years, this strip has gained increasing momentum caused by an enormous wave of gallerists who moved from Mitte to the area South of the Neue Nationalgalerie. Today, a true gallery mile includes about thirty galleries and project spaces scattered around an unpolished neighborhood. We may visit renowned galleries such as Michael Fuchs, Esther Schipper, Isabella Bortolozzi, Giti Nourbakhsch, Guido Baudach, Arndt, Plan B, Tanya Leighton or Klosterfelde, depending on what’s showing. Through your dialogue with an art historian familiar with Berlin’s art world, this tour aims to give you insight into the ever-evolving contemporary art practices within Berlin’s expanding art scene.