From Otto Piene to Candice Breitz, our picks from Berlin's Gallery Weekend - Friends of Friends / Freunde von Freunden (FvF)

From Otto Piene to Candice Breitz, our picks from Berlin’s Gallery Weekend

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From Otto Piene to Candice Breitz, our picks from Berlin’s Gallery Weekend

It’s that time of year again: between 28–30 April, Berlin’s galleries are opening their doors for Gallery Weekend Berlin—three days of some of the city’s most impressive art exhibitions. If the 47 participating galleries are more than can be squeezed into one weekend, we’ve pulled together a short list of some of our personal highlights.

Guan Xiao, Living Sci-Fi, under the red stars
Beijing-based artist Guan Xiao is known for her sci-fi sculptures that draw complex threads together. Her new solo exhibition at Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler explores the changes in urban environments, and its interconnection with nature and commodities.

Sarah Lucas, FunQroc
Check out Sarah Lucas’s playful sculptures at CFA’s new space in Charlottenburg. The project, FunQroc, is the product of a 4-day period in which Lucas invited friends and artists to collaborate with her. The resulting exhibition is a tangled mass of everyday objects—tights, concrete and found objects.

Candice Breitz, Love Story
This 7-channel video installation sees two highly visible public figures—Alec Baldwin and Julianne Moore—recount tales of the voiceless. Baldwin speaks as a former child soldier from Angola, Moore as a Syrian refugee. The strangeness of it all is designed to encourage empathy and credulity. See it for yourself at KOW.

Otto Piene, Light Ballet
Otto Piene’s experiments with light began in the 1950s, and this exhibition of his work at Sprueth Magers is a testament to his brilliance. Part light-painting, part choreographed dance, the exhibition is designed as a “total immersion” for the spectator.

Ryan Mendoza, Rosa Parks’ House
The Detroit home of civil rights icon Rosa Parks has been brought over to Berlin by artist Ryan Mendoza. Upon hearing about the building’s planned demolition, Mendoza and Parks’ niece, Rhea McCauley, began the ambitious project to save it. It’s a fitting memorial to one of the 20th century’s greatest political activists. See it at Mendoza’s studio.

If you’d like to read more about Gallery Weekend Berlin, take a look at our interview with founder Maike Cruse.

For more on Gallery Weekend Berlin, or to see the full program, take a look at their website.

To see more art-related content, take a look at the FvF archive.

Image credit: Candice Breitz, still from Love Story / KOW Berlin
Text: Siobhan Leddy

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