Opening its doors for the seventh time this autumn in Europes most exciting and eagerly visited cultural capital, Art Forum Berlin, the International Fair for Contemporary Art, will take place this year from September 26th through September 30th.
The International Fair for Contemporary Art
Fresh Art on the Move
Opening its doors for the seventh time this autumn in Europes most
exciting and eagerly visited cultural capital, ART FORUM BERLIN, the
International Fair for Contemporary Art, will take place this year from
September 26th through September 30th. The professional Preview and
Vernissage will be held on Wednesday, September 25th. Presenting visitors
with a captivating overview of the most exciting and challenging
tendencies in contemporary art, ART FORUM BERLIN continues to draw
increasingly higher numbers of art-lovers, collectors, curators and
critics to Berlin each consecutive year. The citys fascinating evolution
into a world-class art metropolis further provides an incomparably
enriching artistic back-drop for this most focussed of international art
fairs.
In 2002 ART FORUM BERLIN will continue to sharpen its image as the
international fair for cutting-edge contemporary art and emerging
production. Germanys prominent newspaper, Die Welt, wrote last year that,
No other art fair is more uncompromisingly set on young art than ART
FORUM BERLIN. According to Gerd Harry Lybke, speaker of the Galleries
Advisory Board, We have set ourselves the goal of effectively connecting
our international partners with the inspiring and growing Berlin art
scene.
The new, international Galleries Advisory Board has brought a younger
generation of guidance to the fore. Under the direction of this new Board,
the unique position of ART FORUM BERLIN among other international art
fairs will continue to be fortified.
ART FORUM BERLIN 2002 will host approximately 155 galleries from 25
countries showing work by over 1,200 artists employing a variety of media
including video, photography, painting, sculpture and installation. Many
galleries will be bringing new work by artists represented at Manifesta 4
and Documenta 11 - among them the artists John Bock, Cerith Wyn Evans, Isa
Genzken, Thomas Hirschhorn, Pierre Huyghe, Jonas Dahlberg, Takehito
Koganezawa, Mathieu Mercier, Haegue Yang, Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani.
We are additionally pleased to announce this year the first-time
participation of a number of new galleries, among them Friedrich Petzel,
New York, Johann Koenig, Berlin, Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver, Frith
Street Gallery, London, Gallery Ottensen, Copenhagen, and Kurimanzutto and
Enrique Guerrero, both Mexico City.
Also of special note and in keeping with ART FORUM BERLINs unique
geographic and conceptual orientation vis-a-vis its Eastern European
neighbors, this year the fair is extremely pleased to welcome the
first-time participation of Gallery Skuc from Ljubljana and Galeria Erika
Deák of Budapest as well as the return of Galeria Foksal Foundation of
Warsaw, Gallery Jiri Svestka of Prague and Gallery Knoll of Budapest. The
high number of Russian galleries at ART FORUM BERLIN also confirms a
trend. For the first time ever, five new galleries from Russia will be
attending. Galleries XL and Aidan, both of Moscow, will be returning to
the fair as in past years.
The specially conceived Project Spaces offered by ART FORUM BERLIN make
it possible for younger international galleries to take part in the fair.
Always a highlight of the gallery presentations, they provide visitors
with the exciting opportunity to discover fresh young art close to the
source. Among others, the galleries which have been accepted as Project
Spaces include doggerfisher, Edinburgh, loop raum für aktuelle kunst,
Berlin, Diana Stigter, Amsterdam, Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles, VP
Studio, Moscow, and Wieland, Berlin.
The art fair management, the Galleries Advisory Board and the jury all
expressed their determination to uphold even more faithfully the high
quality of exhibited works, stand presentation and overall clarity that
has been characteristic of ART FORUM BERLIN since its inception.
Continually delighting visitors and exhibitors alike, ART FORUM BERLINs
highly successful initiative of promoting cooperative partnerships in the
form of shared stands between international galleries will also be
continued in 2002.
As in every year, running parallel to the fair and free to fair visitors,
ART FORUM BERLIN will again offer a stimulating series of panel
discussions highlighting various themes relevant to contemporary art,
cultural policies and new exhibition concepts. In addition to other
topics, under the title Europe United, ART FORUM BERLIN this year
continues its ongoing series of discussions dedicated to the art and
cultural scenes and political discourse of Eastern European future EU
members. Among others, invited speakers this year will include cultural
policy maker Adrienne Goehler (Hauptstadtkulturfond, Berlin) and curator
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Castello di Rivoli, Turin).
In the context of Autumn of Art Berlin, and further expanding
enjoyment of ART FORUM BERLIN, there will also be numerous exciting
exhibitions and other events taking place in Berlin alongside the art
fair. ART FORUM BERLIN now goes with an even stronger profile into its
seventh year. We look forward to welcoming the international art community
in our halls in September.
Vernissage will be held on Wednesday, September 25th
September 26th-30th, 2002
Exhibition Grounds Messe Berlin,
Entrance: Halls 21.a/b (Hammarskjöldplatz-Masurenallee)
in the Halls 21.a/b - 23.a/b