This amazing new gallery sits right in the heart of what was east Berlin, sitting next to the river Spree it has, if you can climb the stairs, amazing views of the old church. I LOVE the way it has been designed to allow light to flood in, the windows do not open, but the wooden panels are in fact shutters that open, creating a lovely breeze, negating the need for air con. The Germans are truly awesome at designing eco' friendly buildings.
I would say that had we not stumbled on this amazing private view we would not have known it was a gallery, yes the art work should give it away but the entrance is very obscure. So we walked past the huge picture windows and saw Berlin's finest, trendiest crowd, all achingly hip and wonderfully dressed.
I know you will hate me for saying this but they are way better dressers than the French, seriously? Yes you do still see the Otto Dix dowager here and there, but younger generations including my own clearly have learnt to mix up French classic with Japanese quirk, all of Berlin in spring is a pleasure to stand and watch. Outside I realised we had stumbled over Berlin's Gallery Weekend
So pressing my nose against the window I longed to either go in or just stand outside and watch, so I went in with Leyla.
The man in white (below) I think was a well known artist as many were taking his photograph as he went outside for a cigarette, now if you look closely you may see a smaller man wearing a blue bandanna, when we went in he came up to us and introduced himself, not because of me, but Leyla, he could not get over how amazing she looked, men are often drawn to her because of her bizarrely symmetrical face and ice cold blue eyes, (his were an astonishing Paul Newman blue) he spoke to us at length about how the future of art was in her hands (god help us then!)metaphorically of course and how lovely she was and we must go to his studio where he was working with some friends.... He gave us his card and regaled us with stories about working with Joseph Beuys. He was such a great character, and I would like to say we did go, but I am pathologically shy and couldn't face turning up only for him to have forgotten all about it. Still Leyla was FULL of it!
On to my favourite and what has to be the worlds most expensive gallery ever.
Having seen a Richard Long exhibition recently at the Tate Britain I was a bit disappointed that this exhibition was showing, but once in, WOW, it was brilliant, really amazing and perfect for the space which is for me the best space anywhere.
I was almost the first one in, hence the empty space although the eye watring price helps. The scale of Long's work is monumental. This time no Leyla to bug the hell out of me instead Emin was waiting outside since he baulked at stumping up the 12 Euros, so no pressure then! There was loads more on show so I made sure I went round everything this time. info here
An unexpected bonus was finding this gallery, it was not our destination but was opposite, the place that was, a place so weird I will not mention it as it was not worth the trip. This gallery was based in such a lovely building, really a wonderful space, so light and featuring my favourite architecture.
On the whole I admire Sarah Morris but rarely engage with her work, we use her a lot at school because the students find her very accessible, however downstairs a video was showing called Points on a Line and it was just one of the best videos I have ever seen, very, very beautifully shot and really inspiring.
I will leave this post here now and show you some more later in the week.
1 comment:
Your students are so lucky! Your passion for what you do comes through loud and clear -- that you use so much of your own time, weekends and holidays, to check out art and architecture, absorbing, spreading the word, has to show up in the classroom.
Berlin does sound exciting, and even in those couple of shots I can see that there's some very cool dressing going on -- which fits my general impression of the city. Must get there, one of these days . . . (my list of must-get-to places is not getting shorter!)
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