Discovering Collections!

On Saturday evening of Berlin Art Week, Discovering Collections! opens the doors of private collections to the public.

A selection of collectors share their insights into the diverse motivations behind their collections and their personal perspectives on contemporary art.

Each collection has its own focus, revealing the unique connections between the artwork, the artist and the collector, and offering a deeper understanding of how context, content and intuition converge.

The result is a multifaceted picture of the various ways in which collecting can be conceived and experienced. Engaging with these different perspectives invites visitors to look beyond their own point of view and reflect on the layered complexity of contemporary art.

Discovering Collections! is an initiative to showcase private collections with a focus on contemporary art, by Juliet Kothe, Julia Rust von Krosigk and Mona Stehle as part of Berlin Art Week.

Information on the collections
Please note: none of the collections are barrier-free. 

Katharina Garbers-von Boehm Collection 

At the heart of the collection of art lawyer Katharina Garbers-von Boehm are works by women artists. Large-format watercolours by Marianna Simnett, a painted diptych by Sophie Esslinger, and a graphic work by Louise Bourgeois point—mostly in abstract form—to narratives that explore the theme of corporeality. These are contrasted with smaller-scale works by Sarah Buckner and Cosima zu Knyphausen. The concept of the collection has developed more organically than strategically, inspired by the richness of Berlin’s gallery scene and proximity to other established private collections in the city. Art became a benchmark for her life early on: during annual visits to Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, her parents documented the children’s growth with photographs taken in front of three Giacometti sculptures. Her advice to young collectors: »Dare to buy something.« 

Fully booked

Brigitte Trotha Collection

Brigitte Trotha’s collection has its roots in classical modernism; important works from the 1940s to the 1970s laid the foundation for her early engagement with art. She acquired her first contemporary piece, a small collage by Alighiero Boetti, at Art Basel in 1989. Since then, she has focused on relevant contemporary art, which now forms the core of her collection. 

The collection is stylistically diverse, with key works by Richard Artschwager, Michel Majerus, Alicja Kwade, and Olafur Eliasson. Trotha knows many of the artists personally. One piece in particular holds special meaning for her: a bronze sculpture of a conductor by Juan Muñoz, which hangs directly opposite her front door. »He greets me every day—I run my hand over his head like an old friend,« she says. The daily ritual epitomises the emotional closeness she feels with many of the works. 

As an art historian and advisor, Trotha values quality over decorative appeal: »Art should move you, not just please you.« Her wish is to inspire a new generation of collectors—with curiosity, depth, and genuine joy in the work. 

Fully booked

Georg Reutter Collection 

Linguist, long-time banker, and collector Georg Reutter lives with his family in a so-called ›Typ Pankow‹—a standardised residential and office building in the embassy district around the Esplanade, originally constructed as the Swedish Embassy on behalf of the GDR’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Since the late 1980s, following a brief period as a gallerist under the name ›Abriß‹, his collection has steadily grown, bringing together works from the GDR avant-garde alongside West German pieces, charting their evolution from that time to the present day. These include works from the Leipzig School—students of Ebersbach and Rink—the Autoperforationsartisten, and academies on the other side of the Wall; i.e. the classes of Blume and Franz Erhard Walter in Hamburg. The collection houses works by Neo Rauch, Klaus Elle, Steffen Mück, Via Lewandowsky, Micha Brendel, Franz Ackermann, Ralf Ritter, Jorinde Voigt, and Franziska Holstein, among others. Reutter’s rooms house not only artworks, but also curious treasures and collector‘s items: an attempt to recreate Wilhelm von Humboldt’s linguistic library in original editions; a sizeable vinyl collection spanning Krautrock to hip-hop; an original ›Schwarzwaldstube‹ complete with a carved wooden chandelier; Biedermeier-era crockery from the early days of major porcelain manufacturers; and intricately woven Chinese wedding baskets. Over the years, Reutter has built long-standing personal relationships with many of the artists in his collection, as well as with exhibition organisers such as the late curator Peter Lang. He particularly values the ongoing, friendly conversations about art that go far beyond collecting itself. 

His advice to aspiring collectors: »Be realistic about your ability to recognise beauty, and don’t be afraid to seek advice. A good artwork should please—but it can also sting a little.« 

Fully booked

Hackelsberger Collection

At the heart of Alexandra Hackelsberger’s collection is photography, with a particular focus on contemporary work by younger artists. Their appeal lies less in quick answers than in the questions they provoke: what defines a photographic artwork? How does it relate to reality, and to the medium itself? This openness informs both the collector’s outlook and the practice of the artists she supports. 

The collection is part of the Art’Us Collectors’ Collective, a network of collectors who regularly make their works available for exhibitions rather than keeping them private. Pieces from the collection have been shown in institutions across Germany, in the private a p a r t m e n t space, and—most recently—in Hackelsberger’s own exhibition venue, c a b i n e t, on Elisabethkirchstraße in Berlin’s Mitte district. For Berlin Art Week 2025, curator Harald F. Theiss will present a selection of her latest acquisitions.

Artists represented in the collection include Lotta Antonsson, Birgit Brenner, Viktoria Binschtok, Sophie Bird Möller, Jan Groover, Falk Haberkorn, Sven Johne, Selja Kamerić, Emelie Pitoiset, Anis Reimann, Clare Strand, Sarah Ancelle Schönfeld, Fiete Stolte and Rirkrit Tiravanija. 

Hackelsberger’s advice to aspiring collectors is straightforward: »The most important thing is to acquire only what you genuinely love. There are hardly any works in my collection that I wouldn’t be glad to look at every single day.« 

Fully booked