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<\/p>\nIn an industry enamoured by novelty and uncertain of its future, even the foolproof formulas must be updated. This year Gallery Weekend Berlin (GWB, 1-3 May), which sees the city\u2019s top galleries open ambitious shows on the same weekend, grows from 50 to 57 participants, thanks to a new section.<\/p>\n
Perspectives is a rotating selection of smaller, mostly young galleries that have not yet taken part in the event. These range from closely watched Anton Janizewski, which is showing sculptures by Jiyoon Chung cast from bottles of celebrity-endorsed tequila brands, to Persons Projects, which is presenting a duo show of abstract paintings and photography by Karl Benjamin and Grey Crawford.<\/p>\n
Since its launch in 2005 with 21 dealers hoping to attract international collectors to a city teeming with artists but scarce of local buyers, GWB has grown into what is typically regarded by its participants as their best sales week outside of an art fair. Its popularity, and the mushrooming art scene of late 2000s Berlin, saw it grow to 40 galleries, and then to 50, around where it has hovered since.<\/p>\n
The model is successful, having been copied dozens of times from London to Warsaw, but is not without fault. For those only consulting the GWB map, they might question whether Berlin\u2019s commercial art scene stopped growing after 2015. Of the galleries regularly taking part, just four\u2014Noah Klink, Sweetwater, Schiefe Z\u00e4hne and Molitor\u2014were founded in the past decade.<\/p>\n
Unlike an art fair, galleries do not apply. Rather, they are invited to join through a selection committee, and the list of exhibitors stays \u201cmore or less the same year after year\u201d, says GWB\u2019s director Antonia Ruder. Accusations of elitism and obfuscation have previously been levelled at the selection process, but \u201cspace is a key issue\u201d, Ruder says. \u201cWe have to ensure that someone could feasibly visit all the galleries over a weekend, and ensure a certain quality of exhibition.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Perspectives gallery Mountains is showing Shinoh Nam<\/p>\n
Courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n
Perspectives addresses this issue, while providing a gentler entryway for emerging dealers; those galleries pay 50% of the usual \u20ac9,000 participation fee, with the discount funded by the Berlin Senate. Ruder acknowledges the challenges facing galleries: \u201cPrices for everything are going up while sales are not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPerspectives is a long overdue and welcome step in the right direction,\u201d says Markus Summerer, the co-founder of Mountains, which opened in 2019 a few months before the pandemic. For Perspectives, it is showing sculptures and wall-based works by the South Korean artist Shinoh Nam. Described in an accompanying text as \u201carchitectural fragments\u201d, they range from slices of wooden doors to sculptures in hand-worked steel, burnt wood and glass (priced \u20ac2,000-\u20ac16,000). <\/p>\n
Summerer now hopes that the Perspectives initiative can go even further. \u201cPerhaps the idea of \u2018rotation\u2019 could be applied more to the main sector, rather than primarily to the younger galleries,” he suggests.<\/p>\n
Indeed, while most of the Perspectives galleries are young, some have professionalised quickly, through taking part in art fairs and developing an international and multi-generational roster. (Mountain\u2019s programme also includes the late Filipino artist and activist David Medalla). \u201cTwenty years ago, Berlin offered a much lower barrier to entry, financially and structurally,\u201d Summerer says. \u201cToday, it seems the challenges are more complex. Young galleries need to be both financially resilient and strategically agile. At the same time, expectations\u2014from artists, collectors and institutions\u2014have become more global from the outset.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision for GWB to introduce a crop of new, ambitious dealers reflects not just a shifting local gallery scene but a city, too. The promises of bohemian Berlin\u2014super-cheap rents and uncensored expression\u2014have, in recent years, vanished or been proven false, turning the stream of artists flocking to the city into a slow trickle. Add recent arts funding cuts and two culture minister resignations in as many years, and the city is facing something of an existential crisis.<\/p>\n
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Mark Barker’s Untitled (2025), at Shahin Zarinbal<\/p>\n
Photo: Eric Tschernow; dourtesy the artist, Shahin Zarinbal, Berlin<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like everything is being reshuffled,\u201d says Shahin Zarinbal, whose eponymous gallery will present sculptures, photography, charcoal drawings, watercolours and a large painting by Mark Barker, “each referencing bodily functions and forms of enclosure\u201d (\u20ac2,500-\u20ac18,000).<\/p>\n