The art world went into near meltdown when scene stalwarts sussed that Art Basel, for the first time in many years, does not open directly after the launch of the Venice Biennale this summer (the fair takes place from 15-19 June). Collectors, dealers and curators usually plan an itinerary with La Serenissima and the sleepy Swiss town linked together like two art peas in an art-holiday pod. So what to do in the interminable week-long gap between Italy and Switzerland? Head to Berlin where a new mini-biennial in all but name, entitled “Based in Berlin”, will launch (8 June-24 July).
As debate continues in the German capital on whether to establish a permanent Kunsthalle there, the city authorities and non-profit body KulturProjekte Berlin came up with the ingenious ploy of shifting the art world’s gaze to the city by establishing this survey of 80 emerging artists including Aids 3D and Amy Patton.
The due-for-demolition studio building at Monbijoupark in the Mitte district of Berlin is an exhibition site along with the Berlinische Galerie and the KW Institute for Contemporary Art.
But note the number of curators involved: Angelique Campens, Fredi Fischli, Magdalena Magiera, Jakob Schillinger and Scott Cameron Weaver who, according to a press statement, “have visited hundreds of Berlin-based artists in their studios since November 2010”. The exhibition’s advisers are Klaus Biesenbach, Christine Macel and Hans Ulrich Obrist, who selected the curators.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'berlin slips in between basel and venice'
