For some years now Berlin has been firmly established as a city of the arts and one of the world's most important centres for contemporary art. While in the 1990s only insiders recognised the city's potential, today it enjoys an unrivalled reputation as a European Mecca for the visual arts. It attracts art lovers, collectors, curators, gallerists and artists from Berlin and all over the world.
It seems to be the artists who are most fascinated by the city, so there is an endless stream of people who make Berlin the centre of their lives and creative activities. More and more artists are attracted by Berlin's intense atmosphere and enjoy its optimal working conditions. Thus, the artists in the Convoy Berlin exhibition also chose the city, as more than a third of the participating artists came to Berlin from abroad reflecting a trend that has been going on for years.
The city attracts cultural explorers from all over the world, who see Berlin as a city of opportunity. While rents are not as affordable as they were 15 years ago and there is not quite as much vacant space, studios are still more affordable and space more accessible than in other world cities of similar scale. While it is true that in recent years Berlin has been transformed from a venue for impromptu art events to a centre of the global art market, it has always or perhaps because of this left room for new things, while retaining the atmosphere of the years after the fall of the Wall, vibrant with new possibilities, new horizons and change. In this constant transformation, a vast artistic milieu has emerged over the years with countless stylistic trends.
The exhibition Convoy Berlin aims to provide an insight into this medium, shedding light on as many areas and aspects of the Berlin art scene as possible. However, the diversity of Berlin as presented in the exhibition cannot be subsumed under a single idea and the visitor must therefore take each perspective in turn. Although the city with its ever-present history offers a wealth of material for artistic treatment, it is not the city itself that is the subject of the creative activity of the exhibiting artists, but the medium in which this work was created.
Exhibiting artists:
Norbert Bisky
Thorsten Brinkmann
Björn Dahlem
Hannah Dougherty
Sven Drühl
Dennis Feddersen
Shannon Finley
Andrew Gilbert
Gotscha Gosalishvili
Secundino Hernandez
Ruprecht von Kaufmann
Bettina War
Via Lewandowsky
Ryan McLaughlin
Katinka Pilscheur
The exhibition was realized in collaboration with Biksady Gallery.
