The Berlin club is being transformed into a massive art venue during the coronavirus pandemic
While Berghain remains closed to clubbers, a new exhibition will see the club transformed into a massive art venue (also offering the public an opportunity to bypass its strict door policy and get a look inside).
ICYMI, the Berlin superclub was sadly forced to cancel all its upcoming events back in March, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, it has briefly reopened to host a surreal sound exhibition (Eleven songs – Hall at Berghain) by the artistic duo Tamtam.
Now, Berghain has coupled with the collectors Christian and Karen Boros of the Boros Foundation to put on its second art exhibition, Studio Berlin, featuring work across various discliplines – including photography, sculpture, painting, video, sound, performance, and installation – produced in the city’s studios during lockdown.
Works by more than 80 artists will feature in the new exhibition, including art from some of the industry’s biggest names, such as Olafur Eliasson and Wolfgang Tillmans. Tacita Dean, Anne Imhof, and Cyprien Gaillard will also feature in the mix of young and established artists currently living and working in Berlin.
Visitors will be able to book tours of the exhibition online for a chance to see the artworks, but also the 3,500 square meters of Berghain – including the club’s dancefloors, bar, and notorious darkrooms – that house them.
“Even grandmas with zimmer frames will be able to get in,” Christian Boros tells The Art Newspaper.
Boros also explains how the project came about during lockdown. “For three months during the confinement period we were speaking to artists on the phone every day,” he says. “Suddenly everyone had time. I spoke to Olafur Eliasson for three hours on Facetime – the only limit was that the phone battery ran down.”
“The artists were all in their studios instead of on aeroplanes. We wanted to show this incredible artistic production. Berlin was frozen, so why not think differently? Why not work together?”
Studio Berlin will open to the public at Berghain from September 9.