Curated Route

Art and Aperitivo in the City Centre

A favourite among locals and tourists alike, the vibrant district where Mitte meets Prenzlauer Berg is filled with galleries, restaurants, and bars. On Friday 13 September, the area will buzz with openings, parties, and performances for Gallery Night by Gallery Weekend Berlin, making it the perfect time to explore. Start right in the centre of the city, and find your way north to Weißensee through some of Berlin’s most picturesque streets.

Begin at nGbK’s venue overlooking Alexanderplatz, where ›Orangery of Care‹, a group exhibition curated by PARA collective, addresses themes of care, resource limitations, and constructs of nature and femininity in relation to house plants. The show examines the influence of (post-)colonial conditions on human-plant relationships, as well as the transformative potential of rethinking these interactions.

As you make your way to the gallery-packed area around Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, stop at BQ​ ⁠for ›A Ghost Returns‹, an exhibition of works by Ruth Nemet. Nearby, Dittrich & Schlechtriem shows Harry Nuriev’s ›The Foam Room‹, an immersive installation filling the subterranean gallery space with foam. While creating an ideal setting for a party, Nuriev’s work playfully comments on how art today, much like the soap bubbles bursting in an instant, is often reduced to a gimmick that turns the artist into a marketing tool.

Just around the corner, Torstraße offers plenty of options for a quick bite and drink. At To The Bone restaurant, indulge in Italian aperitivo-style dishes paired with artisanal cocktails or wine before heading to neugerriemschneider on Christinenstraße. The gallery shows Noa Eshkol’s ›textile traces‹, an exhibition that highlights the narrative qualities of the artist and choreographer’s work. A wide selection of Eshkol’s wall carpets, many on display for the first time, unfold as a chronicle of discovery across the gallery’s three rooms.

Next stop is Holon​, a transdisciplinary project space in the heart of Prenzlauer Berg, which showcases Gretchen Andrew’s ›Facetune Portraits‹ in collaboration with the generative art platform fx(hash). This new series of works deploys generative art and oil painting to reveal the tension between who we are, and who the “beautifying” AI algorithms say we should be. For Berlin Art Week, Andrew’s creative robotics facility migrates from London to Berlin, transforming Holon into a hybrid physical/digital studio.

Conclude your tour at Neun Kelche​, a project space in Weißensee that focuses on FLINTA* artists, where Theresa Weber’s exhibition ›Alle Menschen werden Brüder‹ opens on Friday in parallel with Gallery Night. Borrowing its title from the final movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, it explores the invisibility of Afro-German history and the theory that Beethoven might have had African heritage. This speculative notion serves as a springboard for reimagining historical narratives and fostering anti-colonial resistance.

Information on the accessibility of the respective institutions can be found under Locations.