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AABL 2012: Future Kunsthalle

John Bock’s exhibition ‘Fischgrätenmelkstand’ at the Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, shortly before its demolition in 2010

The international art world, a system of producing, showing and exporting art, is a growing and powerful force that visibly changes the face of Berlin. An infrastructure of artists, curators, art dealers, collectors, galleries and art tourists, although organised globally, have pioneered the local transformation of Berlin’s spaces and are having a distinct impact onto the shape of the city today. Here, private galleries are taking over the function of the museum. New nomadic institutions are emerging. Museums are searching for other ways of acting. The highly controlled context of the gallery is being challenged with alternative modes of displaying and viewing contemporary art.
AA Berlin Laboratory engages in research, discussion and proposals around spaces for contemporary art in Berlin and beyond. What role can the museum secure in this dynamic context? How are formal, organisational and functional requirements for art spaces shifting? What time scales and geographies are involved in the growing network that disseminates art?

During the intensive 9 day workshop we will work as much in the field/city as in the studio. We will visit some of today’s most significant artists in their studios, will make connections to institutions, visit collectors, galleries, museums and alternative art spaces, and reflect upon the workings of the international art system. We will trace existing networks and spaces, speculate on their current and future validity and question models of exhibiton practices. What is the future kunsthalle?

AA Berlin Laboratory will be accompanied by a public programme of events which act as a vital part of this research and involve a range of international artists, curators, critics and architects. This year, AA Berlin Laboratory will partner with the UdK, University of the Arts in Berlin, one the biggest and most diversified universities of the arts world-wide, and who’s faculty currently includes artists Olafur Elliason and Ai Weiwei.