Art Forum Berlin In 1,000 Words or Less

By Steven Matthew Brown
Sun contributor
Steven Matthew Brown, a former Artist in Residence at the Glen Arbor Art Association, is a native Detroiter. Brown is currently pursuing his Masters in Fine Arts at the Bauhaus Universität in Weimar, Germany.
Photo by Norm Dagen
“121 galleries from 22 countries will show new works by their stars and new-comers at the beginning of the season in autumn in Berlin.”

After much hemming and hawing, I decided to take the train to Berlin for Art Forum 2006. It was a last minute trip but given the immaculate rail system here in Germany, it was as though I had been planning for months. The trip offered certain revelations as to the nature of Berlin as a modern city and arts paradise as well as a window into much of what is revolutionary, beautiful and commercial in contemporary art.
Was it worth it? Uh huh.
The exhibition was housed in Berlin’s premier exhibition/fair grounds, The Messe. Under a grey sky, The Messe appeared both hideous and magical, reminding me of something a Manga animator might dream up for after the apocalypse comes. Art Forum was installed inside of the sprawling North Hall of The Messe. It was not difficult to navigate as a visitor because there was really no way to navigate it. Despite the hyper-detailed map, people were forced to simply begin walking without purpose, viewing as they went, hopefully finding a way out in the end. I had to give myself over to the scale of the event in order to take anything away. Paramedics would have had a much tougher time in an emergency.
The exhibition was mostly white-walled and packed with a mixture of amazing work and deliberately dressed people. No more than five minutes after I entered, I stood modestly curious, as a nice couple from who knows where inquired as to the price of a small (12×16) ‘anonymous’ painting. After being told the work was priced at 26,000 Euro ($35,000) they politely asked if they could carry it out with them. I guess names aren’t always everything.
The event serves as a temporary and contemporary museum of the highest quality, as well as clearinghouse for just about any art form that can be bought and sold. The over-arching principles of Art Forum Berlin are newness and quality. Both were present in equally breathtaking amounts.
“This year at the 11th ART FORUM BERLIN, the entire spectrum of contemporary art will be represented: painting, photography, installations, media art, sculpture, works on paper, editions and multiples.”
True! The exhibition was so diverse I could imagine purists falling into fits and pulling their hair out in the corner. The work ranged from, oil on just about everything, to graphite on paper, to monumental c-prints (I mean 20 feet x 10 feet monumental), to the requisite neon installation, to video installation, to interactive design … name it and it was there.
Markus Oehlen’s work seemed to be everywhere. His giant oil on canvas compositions would stand out even in a Fourth of July parade, or, as was the case even at Art Forum Berlin. Performance artist William L Pope had a small work entitled “Salt Lick” represented by a London-based gallery whose name I didn’t get. The orange crusty surface was accompanied by instructions to lick the surface and spit the contents of one’s mouth onto the floor. By day 4 of Art Forum Berlin no one had followed his instructions. It’s understandable, really.
Birgit Dieker was a new name for me but I will certainly not forget it. The works presented by Birgit, who is represented in Europe, all utilized fabric and found clothing. I was most struck by pieces that looked like anthropomorphic humanoid forms made by ‘stacking’ old shirts like a Russian doll until a solid form was realized. The ‘heads’ of these forms were then excavated until the layers within were revealed. David Scher, (another new name for me) shows in the still-hot city of Leipzig. He reminds me of San Francisco-based artists like Shaun O’Dell. I am struggling to understand why exactly, but it may be that they blend an interest in formal and technical aspects of drawing and painting with the insane ‘abstract expressionist/Korean animation/Americana’ symbolism that I find more and more in contemporary painting.
All things considered I was really completely under-whelmed by the installation section. The area was used for works that were not installation but were too large to be exhibited in the main spaces, as well as ‘true’ installations that I found generally a bit stale.
The city of Berlin itself is as amazing as it is strange. My first impressions were of the new 700-million-Euro Hauptbahnhof train station (the largest in Europe) — a glass cathedral that accepts trains on two levels. It’s larger than most airports and busier too. Eight hundred years of history seem to still be active and alive all around the city. The touristy areas are still quite raw and it would seem everyone finds a voice there.
The city is in many ways a blank slate. It is ancient and contemporary, and many areas still bear traces of multiple invasions, regime changes, world-shattering bombing campaigns and geopolitical division. Award-winning architecture and still dead Soviet-era buildings stand together, roving bands of street-kids wait for trains next to rich Golden-Youth at the U-Bahn station, wurst sausage peddlers next to Middle Eastern kebob carts…. It seemed like strange things were afoot all around me AND the people are delightfully nice. There were areas where just walking around I felt as though I was on some high-grade synthetic black-market chemical. Even at the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate it was all a bit like a blurry dream of some “Soviet Brooklyn.” I was unprepared for the tarnished-polish of the city.
All things said it’s an amazing metropolis and host to a seemingly non-stop party circuit at a seemingly infinite variety of clubs, venues, squat-houses, hotels and galleries. There are no less than 50 museums in Berlin proper, including the Pergamonmuseum, Bode-Museum, as well as the Alte and Neue Nationalgaleries. These are all situated on the Museum Island, which is still reeling from a 400-million-Euro renovation project. There are more official and alternative gallery spaces than I can count, all presenting a variety of work befitting an international city such as Berlin. I was also lucky enough to catch Cai Guo-Qiang at Guggenheim Berlin. I was introduced to him through the Woodward Lecture Series a few years ago. I have seen him at the Corcoran in Washington D.C. as well, and I am never disappointed with his work.
Suffice it to say there’s too much to discuss in one sitting. Maybe next year I can offer some perspective on the changing face of Art Forum Berlin. But for now, like the 100,000 other visitors, I am still in the hazy neon thrall of the grand event.
Visit Art Forum Berlin on the web at www.art-forum-berlin.com.
Brown’s work has been exhibited at Thoreson Farm and the Lake Street Studios’ Center Gallery. He has traveled vast portions of the United States since leaving his Glen Arbor residency and made an immediate stop on the middle coast of Oregon for a residency at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. A Maggie Allese Scholarship Fellow, Brown spent a year traveling with Art Train USA. He has also spent extended time creating studio studies in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. When Brown is not internationally engaged, he frequently makes rejuvenation visits to Empire. Brown’s work on paper is currently represented at the Synchronicity Gallery the Glen Arbor. For more information visit www.stevenmatthewbrown.com.