The Columbist: Berlin’s lifestyle magazine

ART

Owned by Others: art exhibitions around Museum Island

Svetlana Stepanova

Owned by Others is not like any other art group show. Unfolded in the Fall of 2020 through a series of exhibitions and running through end of 2021, it is more of an artistic story-telling concept uncovering narratives of places and artifacts around and of the Berlin’s Museum Island.

It includes various interventions, research dialogs, performances and public interactions related to the history of the Island and sifted through the contemporary art format. There are over 20 participating artists originating from different places - Baghdad, Guatemala City, Addis Ababa, Tijuana, Singapore, Dakar, to name just a few.

The project spans around two locations within the vicinity of the Island. The idea behind this very public show is about addressing the big questions of our time on a small scale. Whether it’s the spotlight on domestic violence, creative challenges due to pandemic (such as, making visible what has become invisible), or investigating the potential of “unruly” Berlin – this mega outdoor project stands up against the challenges of its times and remarkably speaks for “globality, historicity and the present.”

► Visit the website of Owned by Others to learn more about the project.

Owned by Others interventions around Museum Island run until the end of 2021 and can be observed by foot. Museum Tropicana can be visited by appointment only and offers weekly series of screenings, exhibitions, cooking events, and lecture performances, but check out the calendar for 2021 events.

Aparicion

Artist Regina José Galindo explores the subject of domestic violence. Through her performance she portrays injury, assault, and defenselessness, making visible what routinely happens in the un-surveilled crime scenes of war zones, human trafficking, or domestic space.

Title: „Aparición“

Year: Nov 25, 2020 – ongoing

Medium: Performance

Artist: Regina José Galindo

Photos: Lutz Henke

Museum Tropicana

Located in Berlin’s Nikolaiviertel with a view on the Museum Island, the project space Museum Tropicana is subleased from the travel agency Tropicana Touristik and hosts a weekly series of screenings, exhibitions, cooking events, and lecture performance.

Presentations by

1. Albrecht/Wilke (Carnival Ecstasy)

2. Suzanna Czebatul

at Museum Tropicana

Year: ongoing

Medium: Events

Photos: Lutz Henke

Greetings from Berlin!

Artist Aram Bartholl transformed pictures of the fire that took place during the re-construction of the Humboldt Forum into printed post cards, mixing historiography with the unpredictable, while mocking the facts. Visitors are invited to take a set of cards from the souvenir shop postcard stand and send them to relatives and friends.

Title: „Greetings from Berlin!“

Year: Dec 5, 2020 – ongoing

Medium: Post Card Series and Stand

Artist: Aram Bartholl

Photos: Aram Bartholl; Lutz Henke

Bauensemble

Andreas Gehrke’s photo series reveal the loosened and dissonant parts of the Museum Island. He goes beyond grand narratives of history and rather provincializes Berlin through close contact: the sculptures look absurd, while construction objects obscure the story of the art. We see day-to-day life of the Island.

Title: Bauensemble

Year: Dec 2020 – ongoing

Medium: Digital exhibition

Artist: Andreas Gehrke

Photos: Andreas Gehrke