Blood trip 2006 to Berlin
4th Berlin Biennial of Contemporary Art + Hoffmann Collection + tour of new Berlin galleries
Saturday 13 / Sunday 14th May 2006
Image: Anri Sala, DAMMI I COLORI, 2003. Courtesy Galerie Chantal Crousel
Berlin is arguably Europe’s hippest city and a major art destination, attracting artists, bohemians and clubbers alike. 20 Blood members joined us for Blood’s second trip to Berlin in May, coinciding with the 4th Berlin Biennial for contemporary art. In addition to the art, we left everyone plenty of time to explore the city on their own.
Programme
Friday 12 May 2006
Arrived in the evening from London, informal dinner at Modellhut.
Saturday 13 May – Hoffmann Collection + Mitte gallery tour
12noon: Hoffmann collection, Sophie-Gips-Hoefe
Hoffmann Collection website
Erika and Rolf Hoffmann moved to Berlin a few years ago and renovated the 19th century Sophie-Gips-Hoefe to create a home for themselves and their extensive collection. In addition to works by established artists such as Lucio Fontana and Frank Stella, the collection includes paintings, sculptures, woodcuts, photographs and videos by emerging artists from around the world. Both the selection and the installation reflect the collectors' personal tastes. Every summer, Erika Hoffmann changes the entire display, rotating the collection and shifting the works around to reveal new relationships and conflicts between works of different generations.
3:30pm: Mitte gallery tour
We explored Berlin’s leading contemporary galleries including some recent openings in trendy district Mitte with a Blood-style walking tour. There are literally hundreds of galleries in Mitte, we toured the area around Checkpoint Charlie which is the new up and coming area.
Sunday 14 May – Berlin Biennial tour
11:00am: Brunch
We started the day with brunch near Auguststrasse, in the middle of the Berlin Biennial.
1pm: Berlin Biennial tour
http://www.berlinbiennale.de/eng/
Curated by Maurizio Cattelan, Massimiliano Gioni and Ali Subotnick, the Biennial was spread across a number of very diverse spaces from galleries to private apartments, a semi-derelict ballroom and a cemetary. We had a guided private tour through the main venues, but everybody then spent some more time exploring the other spaces.
Hotels
Here are some of the hotels we stayed in:
Hotel Künstlerheim Luise http://www.luise-berlin.com each room is designed by an artist (from €48)
Art'otel Berlin Mitte http://www.artotel.de/berlin_mitte/berlin.html art by Georg Baselitz, from (from €130)
Flights
British Airways, Air Berlin, Easyjet, Ryanair all go direct to Berlin. BA flies to Tegel, the others to Berlin Schoenefeld.
Useful links
Berlin Biennial http://www.berlinbiennale.de
Mitte galleries http://www.kunstmittenord.de
Time Out Berlin Guide http://www.timeout.com/berlin
Berlin what’s on magazines (in German)
http://www.zitty.de/
http://www.berlinonline.de/tip/.bin/index.php
Please note:
This is one of many art events organised by Blood in the past.
Blood events are by invite only and RSVP is essential. Blood members have priority on the guest list. You can only RSVP from your own personal invite sent to you by email. Become a Blood member today to receive your invite.