Berlin, the city of art

Berlin, 26 April 2018 In the coming weeks, Berlin will once again present itself as a city of art and creativity. From 25 to 26 April, the New York Times is hosting the conference "Art Leaders Network Berlin". Around 400 gallery owners, architects, museum directors, collectors, and artists from all over the world, including Ai Weiwei and Olafur Eliasson and Glenn D. Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, will discuss the challenges and opportunities of the rapidly changing art market with journalists from the New York Times. The next weekend, the Gallery Weekend invites to a free tour of around 50 galleries, museums, and private collections from 27 to 29 April. More than 25,000 visitors are expected. The format, which is popular with locals and guests, is an invention from Berlin and has since found imitators all over the world.

Art on the water: the Übermut Project

On the occasion of the Gallery Weekend, the "Übermut Project" with its project "2Boats" will be anchored in Berlin. The "Obscuraboat", a boat in the shape of a floating, walk-in camera obscura by Berlin photographer Maciej Markowicz, will be on display at various locations in Berlin throughout the weekend and can be visited on Friday from 6 pm on the Landwehrkanal near Böcklerpark. An artist talk will be held from 5 pm. The "Übermut Project" is an initiative of visitBerlin in cooperation with Hamburg Marketing GmbH, supported by the Federal Foreign Office. Taking the two metropolises as its example, it aims to illustrate Germany's creative potential. The "Übermut Project" has led Berlin and Hamburg creatives to Hong Kong, Milan, Brighton, Amsterdam, and the USA as well as Paris, Tehran, and Bangkok in recent months. Further information on the project at ubermutproject.com

Full programme at the "Berlin Mural Fest", the Berlin Biennale, and Berlin Art Week

In May, the whole of Berlin will become a big screen: at the "Berlin Mural Fest" from 14 to 18 May, more than 20 artists and crews from Berlin and around the world will create street art works and murals at 30 locations throughout the city. The festival is organised by the members of Berlin Art Bang e.V. Their urban art exhibition "The Haus" attracted around 80,000 visitors last year.

Further highlights of the Berlin Art Year are the 10th Berlin Biennale and the Berlin Art Week. This year's Biennale will take place from 9 June to 9 September at various locations in Berlin. With the motto "We don't need another hero", the international exhibition aims to stimulate dialogue on the topics of knowledge and power.

During Berlin Art Week from 26 to 30 September, the Berlin art scene will be hosting numerous exhibition openings, art fairs, awards ceremonies, and films for the seventh time. The focus is on the art fairs art berlin and Positions Berlin Art Fair, which are presenting their galleries in the hangars of the former Tempelhof Airport for the first time.

Art and culture as an essential reason for travel

Along with New York, Berlin is now regarded as one of the biggest locations on the art scene worldwide. The city has a magnetic attraction for creative people, more than 8,000 artists are active here. They shape the atmosphere of the city.

In addition to sightseeing, art and culture are still important travel reasons for almost 13 million visitors to Berlin today: every second guest (49 percent) names art and culture as an occasion for a visit to Berlin.

The Martin-Gropius-Bau shows international, top-class exhibitions on contemporary art, photography, and cultural history in Berlin and attracts over 800,000 visitors every year. The Hamburg Bahnhof with its collections of contemporary art registered over 300,000 guests in 2017. More than 30,000 guests attended the 20th "Long Night of the Museums" in 2017 - like the Gallery Weekend, also a Berlin invention.

More information on Berlin as a gallery location: www.visitberlin.de/en/galleries

Theme special "Berlin's new cultural heart" available at: https://about.visitberlin.de/en/berlins-new-cultural-heart