Already hosting, since last June, a bigger celebration of Berlin through the eyes of the iconic photographer Helmut Newton, his foundation decided to open this month a new chapter of it, Berlin, Berlin. Part gol3. Aino Kannisto and Karen Stuke – Hotel Bogota.
This exhibition pays a specific homage to Hotel Bogota, a place that used to host the studio of Yva, a legendary photographer of the 20th century, who was also the mentor of Helmut Newton. After that, the place became a hotel, which remained connected to photography by keeping her studio and hosting various photographic projects. Shortly before it was closed, in 2012/2013 Aino Kannisto and Karen Stuke were called to create two projects on it, celebrating its essence through their different practices. Karen Stuke decided to do that in an intimate way, by taking long exposure pictures of herself sleeping in the rooms of Hotel Bogota.
Her work speaks about good ghosts, talking about the invisible overlap of bodies that in time slept in the hotel, connecting them all for one last time. Aino Kannisto decided, instead, to portrait herself more visibly in those rooms, taking on different roles and creating suggestive film stills. With their projects, these two artists commemorate an iconic place of a past Berlin, carving out a space for it in history.
KW decided to pay its homage to the city by showcasing its young talents, hosting BPA / Half- Light. BPA is an artist-led organization, whose work focuses on mentoring and exchanging knowledge between emerging and established Berlin-based artists.
The exhibition navigates between blurred boundaries of what we know of, from light to darkness, from material to imagined, from fake to real. The ten international artists showcased create a connection between all their backgrounds and Berlin, by giving new interpretations of what we experience, and recreating historical and cultural narratives.
Art, nature, politics, economy and technology are the themes covered, opening questions on our past and future as human beings in our interconnected world.
Berlinische Galerie opened on November 8th an overview on the work of the acclaimed artist Rineke Dijkstra, titled Still – Moving. Portraits 1992-2024.
The artist uses photography and video to depict with a tender yet poignant eye people from all over the world, questioning our basic concepts of identity. Her portraits are immediate but full of reflections, showing the fragility and the strength in people from all ages and backgrounds. Particularly moving are her portraits of kids and teenagers, represented in their inner struggle between their fierceness and their insecurities.
The series Parks, 1998-2006, shows that specifically through the portraits of the children of Berlin. While she was doing a residency in the city, Dijkstra started to explore Tiergarten park, and remained mesmerized by the contrasting connection between these kids and the urban jungle that surrounded them. These portraits, as her practice in general, speak about the hidden desires and fears of the city’s population, reminding us that one of our biggest interests should be their future.
Andrea Pichl, with her exhibition Wertewirtshaft (Values of Economy) brings us back to the GDR time, when she grew up. The title references to a series of work by Joseph Beuys, connected to food and everyday objects coming from the GDR.
Her work focuses on bungalows, which people from West Germany could buy for their relatives in the East, recreating them with specific installations. The unsettlement comes fast as soon as you enter them, first with an image coming from the Stasi Archive in Berlin, depicting its officers doing yoga. The stunning contrast between the peaceful practice and their harsh work of arresting and spying fellow citizens brings us to a level of disturbance we were not expecting.
Other series present in the exhibition are about the furniture inside their headquarters, where the colorful and cozy environment crashes with the usage of those places, where so many people were mistreated and abused. Enquiring the rules of a not so far and such impacting time, Pichl makes us question current laws and their righteousness, especially in a time as this one, where a general political shift is impending on us.
Confronting as well the impact of politics is the exhibition Kommando 52 by Italian artist Paolo Cirio at NOME Gallery.
Kommando 52 was a group of German mercenaries, who partnered with other European ones to maintain control of the mineral-rich areas of the newly independent state of Congo in the 1960s. The contrast between their role of warlords and their idealization as war heroes is brought with all its power in a multichannel video installation.
These mercenaries come back to life through AI, sharing reflections on what they did and stimulating a new discourse on the impact of Western policies into other countries. This experimental storytelling becomes a way to express a different anti-war activism, especially insightful in such a period where the world is facing so many open and polarizing conflicts.
Celebrating the historical anniversary of the fall of the Wall becomes a way to open a bigger conversation, within the city and the whole world, about our histories, the impact they have on us, and their lessons, making us wonder if they were actually learned or still to process. A way to redefine our concept of citizenship and find unexpected connections. Don’t miss the chance to watch these compelling exhibitions, and see where this journey takes you.
