Antonia Ruder, Berlin’s leading gallery weekend, is in the ever-changing market
Since its launch in 2005, the Berlin Gallery Weekend has become one of the most anticipated art events on the global calendar and is widely regarded as the perfect time to catch up with what’s going on in the dynamic Berlin art world. Returning from May 2 to 4 this year, the citywide festival will feature fifty-two galleries performing some absolutely incredible shows, including mature artists and emerging artists.
Before this year’s edition, observers caught up with Antonia Ruder, who joined the Berlin Gallery Weekend in 2023 and is now preparing to prepare for the first edition under her guidance. The Weekend Gallery Festival was created by a group of twenty-one galleries to attract attention and cultivate the popularity of the Berlin art world, which was at its peak at the time. “They teamed up to bring people into the community and the idea of solidarity, and everyone brought together the best performances of the year,” Ruder told Observer.
See: How some art galleries work together to be more competitive
Gallery has grown significantly over the weekend. Last year, fifty-five galleries appeared on the show in the 20th anniversary edition. Even so, the festival is chosen when selecting participants, which is for ensuring that visitors attending the event only see the best visitors. “It’s important that when a person comes to the city, people are sure to see exciting and compelling shows.”
Since its inception, the gallery weekend Berlin has been a blueprint for similar festivals around the world – Beggie, Chicago, Los Angeles and other municipalities have held similar events. What sets the Berlin version apart, however, is that in the absence of an international art fair in the city, gallery weekends have become the premier platform for German contemporary art, attracting international collectors and professionals. “It’s a great option to discover both art and cityscapes. I think that’s what makes the gallery weekend successful,” Ruder said.
Berlin Gallery Berlin was launched on weekends in a lucky historical union after the wall collapsed, which coincides with the extraordinary cultural activities in Germany, especially Berlin. That was the moment when German art began to move from Cologne and Düsseldorf to Berlin. In the early 2000s, international galleries like Esther Schipper and Neugerriemschneider opened shops in the city, and Berlin was seen as free at the time, not only because it was far from the academy, but because space was cheap.
Rud admits that the situation is very different today. Prices in the city are rising as major technological and financial hubs develop. Since the pandemic, artists and galleries have been forced to develop for other more affordable (or other more attractive) European capitals such as Paris, Milan or Vienna. The gallery’s weekend Berlin exists in part to rebuild the city as it passionately loves artists, dealers and art lovers. “I believe we really need to put in some effort because Berlin was considered very cool and free a few years ago, and everyone has something, and I think we need to connect with the institutions and the professionals in Berlin to bring great shows to the city and support affordable studios,” Rude said.
The agencies have been working to cut budgets lately, but Ruder believes Berlin remains a city where artists can live. “What makes Berlin and galleries so successful is that distribution and production are very close. We need to maintain this particular environment and talk to the Cultural Senate and other key figures in the art field to ensure that.” To focus more on Berlin’s unique art world in 2025, the gallery will offer a range of studio visits as part of its VIP program. To attract new, vibrant collector bases from Asia, representatives from South Korea and China recently joined the festival’s team.
The new gallery is still open in Berlin, and Ruder notes that many dealers are still choosing the city over other European capitals when launching new galleries or opening posts. This year’s gallery weekend will feature four new galleries, and according to Ruder, the city’s collector numbers are also growing, with many new young professionals, especially technicians, who have found ways to enter the art world. To sue them, the festival plans to hold a series of drills and speeches with artists and art professionals at Neue Nationalgalerie with the aim of making art more accessible and fascinating for local audiences with great potential.
Highlights of this year’s edition include a major new exhibition by Capitain Petzel artist Monica Bonvicini, a performance of Tony Cragg’s work at Buchmann Galerie, and an exhibition by Wim Wenders Genius at Galerie Bastian. Meanwhile, Chertlüdde will showcase the solo exhibition of Álvaro Urbano after a recent exhibition of sculptures specific to outstanding locations and immersive in New York. Anne Imhof will be exhibiting a series of new works at Galerie Buchholz, including voices related to her recent performance at Park Avenue Armory in New York.
Other heavy hitters not to miss include a group show with Thomas Bayrle and Olafur Eliasson at Neugerriemschneider, a show of Martha Rosler at Nagel Draxler, the Austrian artist Arnulf Rainer at Galerie Michael Haas and the three solo shows by Leilah Babirye, Sergey Kononov and celebrated German photographer Thomas Struth at Galerie Max Hetzler. Among the new participants, Klemm’s will introduce the works of Hong Kong-based artist Leele Chan, while Galerie Molitor will introduce the works of American painter Diane Severin Nguyen, and Soy Capitán will showcase the solo performance of New York artist Melissa Joseph. Other highlights include Jimmie Durham’s performances at the SprüthMagers’ Barbara Wien, Cyprien Gaillard and Michail Pirgelis, and Michael Werner, introducing a solo specifically for the recently passed Frank Auerbach.
Berlin will also work with Galerie Judin on the 2025 Gallery Weekend to mark the official opening of Pace Gallery Space. Die Tankstelle is a new art space located in a converted gas station in the 1950s and will open in “Anti-alchemy” (until June 14), with Pace’s inaugural show bringing Jean Dubuffet, Jean-Michel-Michel Basquiat, Robert Nava and Robert Nava and Galerie Judin onto paper works to dedicate the exhibition to Tom of Finland.
While Berlin remains a global capital for art, gentrification and rising costs challenge its truly accessible art capital. Gallery Weekend Berlin (with the Berlin Biennale) is a referendum on whether Berlin can still be the basis for generative experiments, dialogues and discoveries. The barriers remain, but as Rud stresses, so are the possibilities.
