Berghain, from club to gallery: Olafur Eliasson, Wolfgang Tillmans and 115 other artists on show

Inaugurated on 9 September, Studio Berlin is an innovative exhibition project by Boros Foundation in collaboration with Berghain Panorama Bar, a world-famous cultural institution and underground club, named after its location on the border between Berlin’s Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain districts. Over 100 artists will exhibit their works on the dance floor of the Berghain, temple of techno music and now of contemporary art.

The German capital boasts a sophisticated art scene that is fuelled by the presence of numerous ateliers, studios and workshops and attracts young creatives from all over the world. Since spring 2020, the upheavals caused by the spread of the Coronavirus led to an inevitable and abrupt setback, both for the popular music scene and for museums, foundations and art galleries. These challenging circumstances have pushed Boros Foundation and Berghain Panorama Bar to collaborate, with the aim of offering renewed stimuli for a re-start. The hybrid project brings to mind operations of conversion and differentiation well-known to the city of Berlin. Among these, Kraftwerk Berlin, once a former power plant in Mitte, now a club and exhibition space offering performances, shows and hosting every autumn the “Berliner Liste” contemporary art fair.

Studio Berlin wants to encourage a proactive reflection on the current situation and the changes that society is facing and will have to face but, above all, it wants to offer artists, who live and work in Berlin, the opportunity to exhibit again. 3,500 square metres of dance floor will host works by Olafur Eliasson, Wolfgang Tillmans, Tacita Dean, Robin Rhode and many others. The opening of the exhibition, during Berlin Art Week, occurred just a few days before the Gallery Weekend, an awaited appointment dedicated to Berlin’s exhibition spaces.