abc - art berlin contemporary

Edition 2015: View into the exhibition hall of STATION-Berlin . Images: River without a bank , 2015, by Florin Kompatscher .

abc - art berlin contemporary is an exhibition format for national and international galleries that show selected individual items of contemporary art . The focus is on the individual works - the participating galleries do not present themselves with their entire program.

abc is a private initiative of nine Berlin galleries: Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Mehdi Chouakri, Galerie Kamm, Meyer Riegger, Galerie Neu, Neugerriemschneider, Esther Schipper and Zak Branicka and partner of the Berlin Art Week, founded in 2012 . In September 2012 Maike Cruse was appointed director, from November 2012 to June 2013 Cédric Aurelle took over the overall management. The company's previous project manager, Christiane Rhein, is the new interim managing director.

history

Since 1996 the fair for contemporary art Art Forum Berlin has been held in the exhibition halls at the radio tower . In addition to this, the abc was founded in 2008 by Berlin galleries. As a prelude, 75 galleries were invited to the halls of the former “Station Berlin” post station, where they showed around 75 positions on the subject of sculpture, installation and projected images. The concept was not to set up the usual booths for galleries, but to show individual projects, make a few objects and make a targeted selection. This was followed in the following year, under the title def - drafts establishing future, the presentation of models for art in public space in the Academy of Arts in the Tiergarten. In 2010, abc chose the Marshall House on the exhibition grounds as the venue . Under the title light camera action, the complex questions of film in contemporary art and the related aspect of the performative were addressed .

An originally planned merger between Art Forum Berlin and abc failed. abc was accused by Messe Berlin of developing into a rival event of the Art Forum Berlin in order to dominate the Berlin art market alone and thus causing the event to be discontinued in 2011. The decisive factor for the task of the Art Forum Berlin was, however, above all the location of the exhibition halls away from the art scene, the proximity to other international art fairs and the resulting poor economic results.

In 2011 abc moved back to the Berlin station and with about painting presented around 120 artist positions on contemporary painting as well as installations, works on paper, videos, photographs and sculptures that show a contextual interest in this classic medium. The event was described as a combination of thematic exhibition and sales show and the best abc to date. In 2012, the galleries themselves were called upon to propose their position for the first time. In addition, a host institution, the Artists Space from New York, organized a bazaar , two interventions and a series of lectures. At the same time, the Miss Read art book fair took place on the site. 129 galleries from 19 countries took part, from very young galleries to global players . In 2013 abc presented itself from September 19th to 22nd in the STATION-Berlin at Gleisdreieck. The last abc took place in 2016.

In 2017, a new form of trade fair emerged from a cooperation between abc and Art Cologne, the art berlin art fair, which replaced the abc in its original form. In September 2017, around 110 galleries from 16 countries took part.

architecture

The architecture of abc 2012 was developed by Manuel Raeder and takes a critical look at temporary trade fair architecture. Instead of constructing complex one-way solutions, the concept is based on existing, reusable structures that, combined with specially developed display systems, form an economically sustainable framework. In this way, the galleries can create their own exhibition situations for painting, sculpture and / or installation.

Importance and organization

Berlin is internationally recognized as a production location for contemporary art. In addition to the Gallery Weekend in spring, the Berlin Art Week with the co-initiator abc is also important as an economic factor for Berlin. After the end of the Art Forum Berlin, the abc will be the main attraction of the Berlin art market. The abc is the highlight of the Berlin Art Week. It is emphasized that the experimental character in particular suits Berlin.

Web links

Website of the abc - art berlin contemporary

Individual evidence

↑ Maike Cruse becomes director of the abc art berlin contemporary . monopol-magazin.de. September 5, 2012. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 22, 2013. @1@ 2

↑ Cédric Aurelle: All forces are called . art-magazin.de. S. Cédric Aurelle. February 6, 2013. Archived from the original on February 11, 2013. Retrieved on April 22, 2013.