The 7th Berlin Art Week has started: from September 26–30 two art fairs, 15 museums and exhibition spaces, two Kunstvereine, one theatre, 11 private collections, and 20 project spaces will be offering a concerted programme. Beside exhibitions, performances, and award ceremonies, Berlin Art Week with numerous special events and tours will spotlight contemporary art and feature popular and less well-known locations in the German capital.

Two art fairs will be the focus of attention from September 27–30: art berlin is being held for the second time, and as a premiere the fair will take place at Hangars 5 and 6 of the former Airport Tempelhof. It will present around 120 national and international galleries. 90 of them will exhibit their programme in the main section Galleries, which presents highlights of the programmes, whereas the Special Projects section is reserved for solo presentations and curated projects. The fifth Positions Berlin Art Fair will also be held for the first time at the former Airport Tempelhof. It will showcase 73 selected international galleries with their most significant artistic positions of contemporary and modern art along with a framework programme, special exhibitions and other events at Hangar 4.

Highlights of this year’s programme include solo shows by Lee Bul, Agnieszka Polska, Julian Charrière, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Cecilia Jonsson, Nicholas Nixon and Evelyn Taocheng Wang; furthermore the exhibitions Touch at neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), which will explore touch as a paradigmatic gesture of the present, The Most Dangerous Game at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) on the history of the Situationist International, and A 37 90 89 – The Invention of the Neo-Avantgarde at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), which is dedicated to the genesis of project spaces as alternative sites of art presentation and builds a bridge to the present through co-operation with the Berlin project space After the Butcher. Another special event this year will be the first public presentation of the newly restored Picture Cellar at Akademie der Künste at Pariser Platz with large format murals by Manfred Böttcher, Ernst Schroeder, Harald Metzkes, and Horst Zickelbein.

Two eagerly awaited (re)openings will further enrich the diverse programme: Deutsche Bank will open the art, culture, and sport forum PalaisPopulaire with the exhibition The World on Paper. And after being closed for 12 months for general renovations, Haus am Waldsee will be reopening its main Zehlendorf location with a major solo show by Karin Sander.

A focus in 2018 will be placed on photography: with Back to the Future, held in the framework of the EMOP Opening Days of the European Month of Photography Berlin, C/O Berlin will be exploring the history of the medium from the 19th century to the present. KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art in Neukölln will be exploring contemporary photography in the group show Routinised Absurdity, while me Collectors Room with The Moment is Eternity will present photographic works from the Olbricht Collection.

With various interventions in public space, this year’s Berlin Art Week will literally take to the streets: while the internationally renowned programme series Immersion of Berliner Festspiele in the framework of their new project The New Infinity with a mobile dome on Mariannenplatz, the neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK) will be showing artistic posters with the exhibition Posters made political in the Berlin subway (U5 at Alexanderplatz). And Jüdisches Museum Berlin will expand the sound and light sculpture res·o·nant by Mischa Kuball, installed in the Libeskind building since September 2017, to Kreuzberg’s urban space.

The range of art will be complemented with a performative element: for HAU Hebbel am Ufer choreographer Meg Stuart will continue to develop the production Projecting [Space[ with her company Damaged Goods at Reinbeckhallen in Oberschöneweide.

The partner institutions of Berlin Art Week 2018 are: art berlin, Positions Berlin Art Fair, Akademie der Künste, Berliner Festspiele/Gropius Bau, Berliner Festspiele/Immersion, Berlinische Galerie, C/O Berlin, daadgalerie, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Haus am Waldsee, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, me Collectors Room, Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin/Hamburger Bahnhof, neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), PalaisPopulaire, and Schering Stiftung as well as numerous private collections (EAM Collection, Julia Stoschek Collection Berlin, Kienzle Art Foundation, Kunstsaele Berlin, Museum Frieder Burda | Salon Berlin, Salon Dahlmann, Sammlung Boros, Sammlung Ivo Wessel, SØR Rusche Sammlung Oelde/Berlin, The Feuerle Collection, Wurlitzer Pied à Terre Collection).

This year’s Berlin Art Week will once again present the 20 Award Winners for Artistic Project Spaces and Initiatives 2018: Ashley Berlin, Auditive Social Network (Cashmere Radio, reboot.fm), ausland / projekt archiv e.V., Axel Obiger, b_books, Büro BDP / Broken Dimanche Press, COPYRIGHTberlin, Decad, die raum, Display, Fotogalerie Friedrichshain, GSL Projekt, Kinderhook & Caracas, MAVRA, NON Berlin, sign, CIAT, Sonntag, Spektrum art science community, stay hungry, zwanzigquadratmeter (zqm).

Berlin Art Week is made possible by the support of the Senate Department for Culture and Europe as well as the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, and realized with the support of GASAG AG. Kulturprojekte Berlin is responsible for coordination and communication.

 www.berlinartweek.de.