The State of the Art By Mari Matsutoya

After much controversy ending up in over 200 artists signing an open letter to the project's main initiator, mayor "poor but sexy" Klaus Wowereit, the show/spectacle, "Based in Berlin", designed to highlight new and emerging talent went right ahead, and was actually quite successful.

The argument was the justification of 1.6 million euros being spent in a city not exactly known for it's economic success, where a lot of artists earn their living by selling their work abroad anyway, and to protest against a significant amount of that money being spent on a new temporary art space.

So they got what they wanted. The main exhibition took place in the Atelierhaus Monbijoupark just off Oranienburgerstrasse in the heart of Mitte, a former studio of students of Weissensee, due to be demolished anytime now, saving money which would be passed onto the artists costs. However, many complained that it was too cramped to fit in over 40 artworks, as expected. The bar was open every day courtesy of Cookies, and should the weather allow, food (and hopefully some art) were being grilled in the park just outside, making up for lost space.

With 80 international artists spilling over into four other contemporary art platforms, namely the KW Institute, the Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein n.b.k., and the Berlinische Galerie, the exhibitions did give you an overview of the current state of the arts in this hyped-up creative hub of a city. Despite so much negativity from the preparation stage, it did what it said on the tin, and it was a good show. And it has directed some light towards young, budding artists who would otherwise have had no platform for their work. Artists in general are of the anarchical type unfortunately for Herr Wowereit.

The next task would be to keep these creative buds from leaving Berlin, when the rent is going up by the minute while the Mediaspree keeps on getting longer. Tbc...

www.basedinberlin.com

Taken from SLIM Mag August Issue