By Anna Ratcliffe | October, 2020
Art Through the Looking Glass.
A top pick of Berlin’s art windows and Schaufenster galleries.
From display cases, to classic shop fronts and epic walls of glass – Berlin’s window galleries and project spaces come in all shapes and sizes. What is great about these spaces is that you can stumble upon art in your everyday life. Normally you have to seek art out, crossing the threshold of a gallery or museum, but art presented in windows can catch you off guard and surprise you. The spaces become giant vitrines where a whole exhibition can be seen from the street 24/7. Artists, curators and performers work with this format to create fascinating exhibitions. Here is a list of four we think you should check out.
SOX
A small crowd gathers on the busy Oranienstraße. They are watching the display cases opposite, most of the cases are mundane, for example one contains film posters for a nearby cinema, but another contains a living person running back and forth in the tiny space. The space is SOX, a non-profit project that describes itself as ‘an alternative showroom in public space’. The performer crouches down, as a professional athlete would on the starting line, and stares into the distance, which isn’t really the distance as there is a white wall directly in front of them. Then the performer sets off only to slam with force into the opposite wall, rubbing their hands and knees from the impact, then starting again. This is just one segment of Asta Gröting’s 3-hour long performance Der eilige Geist (The hasty mind). The lone performer, Florian Schlessmann, acts out our different relationships to time, when we hurry, try to slow down and feel time slipping away.
Der eilige Geist, Asta Gröting, until 17.10.2020
Oranienstraße 175, 10999 Berlin
Schau Fenster
Schau Fenster definitely wins in terms of window real estate, with 25 meters of wall behind 25 meters of glass, this old tap showroom has been turned into a thriving space for contemporary art. Jan Kage, who is a cultural all-rounder, as author, musician, curator and radio host, founded Schau Fenster in 2010. Kage’s motto is “Curate the curators!”, inviting artists and curators of all backgrounds to hold exhibitions in the window. Because of this, each exhibition has a vastly different flavour as independent groups, curators and artists come in with their own medium and style, creating an interesting changing program. Currently the space has been given over to the collective Trockenbau & Konzeptkunst (Drywall & Concept Art) exhibiting work from five artists: Adrian Altintas, Lotta Bartoschewski, Kalin Lindena, Przemek Pyszczek and Arne Schreiber. Their work together forms a Minimalist revival, think lines and white paintings, celebrating harmony and simplicity.
Texte sind die wichtigste Nebensache in einer Ausstellung II, Trockenbau & Konzeptkunst, until 1.11.2020
Lobeckstraße 30-35, 10969 Berlin
https://dasarty.com/schaufenster/
DISKURS Berlin
The current exhibition WAITINGROOM by Jeewi Lee and Jay Lee utilises the shop front of the project space DISKURS Berlin. On the windowsill perch two large CRT monitors, with their unmistakable flicker, playing a mockumentary about waiting. The video circulates between different aspects of waiting and is a comical delve into how we wait, what poses we strike while waiting and what we do to pass the time. In the rest of the space we see a dying plant and an image with water dropping from the ceiling, which tells the story of Jeewi Lee being stuck away from her home during Covid quarantine as her apartment was leaking and paradoxically her house plant was dehydrating. The exhibition changes over time as more cardboard cut-outs of the artist Jay Lee are added in various waiting positions. The show is part of Exhibition-Relay where artists and curators put on work that is designed to be seen through the windows. The project is aims to support creative individuals through the disruptive times of the pandemic with the exhibition changing every two weeks.
WAITINGROOM, Jeewi Lee & Jay Lee, until 28.10.2020
Novalisstraße 7, 10115 Berlin
https://www.discursus.info/
Berlin-weekly
This floor to ceiling window space has an interesting past as a former gateway for horse-drawn carriages in the historic Jewish Scheunenviertel in Mitte. It is now a brightly lit showcase where you can see contemporary art into the night. Despite its name Berlin-weekly actually has monthly changing exhibitions with pieces that are often specifically designed for the space being presented, taking up the whole window with impressive sculptural or installation work. The 138th window is an exhibition by Lukas Troberg. Bold black letters read the word ANGST and if you pass the window at different times of day you may realise the word is moving. The kinetic sculpture rotates at an almost imperceptible rate, doing one 360 degree loop in 24 hours, like a horrible clock of doom. The turn of the word and the turn of the earth mimic each other, making us question whether it is moving or are we? As we stumble across the window it draws us out of our daily routine.
Mind so fast-body so slow, Lukas Troberg, until 8.11.20
Linienstraße 160, 10115 Berlin
http://www.berlin-weekly.com/