Curated Route

Art Spaces of Berlin’s Upscale West

Explore the upscale side of Berlin with this tour, curated to showcase prominent art spaces in the West, stretching from the expansive greenery of Tiergarten to the Olympiastadion, a sports arena with a complex history. You’ll journey through some of Berlin’s most elegant streets, visiting architectural gems that highlight the city’s sophisticated edge.

1
Start in the gallery-packed area of the Tiergarten district, where Haus am Lützowplatz presents ›How We Live‹, Tracey Snelling’s most comprehensive solo exhibition in Berlin to date. In her sculptures of existing buildings, the artist explores the social dynamics of their inhabitants. A key focus of her work is the complexity of a world where images are omnipresent and interchangeable, and fictions increasingly blend with reality.

2
Next stop is Miettinen Collection⁠—Salon Dahlmann, where Ola Kolehmainen’s new works focus on the art of looking and seeing. Displayed in a subtle dialogue with pieces from the collection, the exhibition revolves around the themes of power of knowledge, presentation of religion, architecture as theatre and politics, and collecting as an incarnation of curiosity.

3
In Amerika Haus, next to the Zoologischer Garten train station, you’ll find C/O Berlin, an exhibition space primarily dedicated to photography. On the evening of 13 September, the venue hosts the opening of two parallel exhibitions. In ›Dream On—Berlin, the 90s‹, over 250 works by co-founders and members of the photo agency Ostkreuz show societal transformations and the flourishing of a new generation after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In ›After Nature. Ulrike Crespo Photography Prize‹, award-winning projects by Laura Huertas Millán and Sarker Protick explore how colonial structures continue to shape contemporary relationships to nature.

4 & 5
The nearby Wentrup, housed in a listed building emblematic of the nineteen-twenties New Objectivity movement, marks the gallery’s twentieth anniversary with a group exhibition. Just around the corner, Wentrup II showcases an exhibition of Desire Moheb-Zandi’s large-format sculptural tapestries. In her work, the artist blends traditional techniques with modern motifs, weaving in elements of her personal history and cultural identity, inspired by her childhood in Turkey.

6
Another anniversary group exhibition takes place at Kienzle Art Foundation, celebrating fifteen years under the title ›The End Justifies the Means: Der Wunsch, die Abstraktion, die Stiftung‹. The show reflects on the collection, its public engagement through exhibitions and publications, and the desire to participate in the value and meaning production of art. While in the area, indulge in a refined contemporary take on German cuisine at Lovis Restaurant in Wilmina, housed in a uniquely historic, fully redesigned former women’s prison, or treat yourself with an elaborate menu at pars Restaurant, led by artist Kristiane Kegelmann.

7
Travel along Kantstraße and through Lietzenseepark to reach Stiftung Kunstforum Berliner Volksbank. Curated by Michael Müller, the exhibition ›Durchdringen: Das U/unheimliche S/sehen‹ (roughly translated as ›Inter/Penetration: The Uncanniness of Seeing‹) focuses on works from the Kunstsammlung der Berliner Volksbank. The first part of the show approaches the self-evident or familiar aspects of artworks in a new way. In the second part, Müller increasingly adopts the role of the artist, responding to the pieces from the collection via his artworks.

8
Georg Kolbe Museum, the final stop of the tour, is located in the listed house of the late sculptor Georg Kolbe, in a nineteen-twenty-eight Bauhaus-influenced ensemble with an interior sculpture garden. With the exhibition ›I Know That I Can Double Myself. Gisèle Vienne and the Puppets of the Avantgarde‹, it puts a spotlight on the work of the artist, choreographer, and director Gisèle Vienne, and places it in dialogue with selected works from European avant-garde women artists. In collaboration with Haus am Waldsee and Sophiensæle, her work will be shown for the first time in Berlin both in the exhibition spaces and on stage.

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