December Picks
As always, everything in Berlin is in a constant state of flux. The Neue Nationalgallerie (Potsdamer Straße 50; smb.museum), designed by modernist classic and 20th-century architecture legend Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is counting down the days before its closure for an extensive reconstruction. To mark this significant event, an art installation has been set up by famous British architect David Chipperfield, who will also oversee the building’s reconstruction. Describing his installation as “a metaphor for a temporary construction site,” Chipperfield has turned the glazed hall of the museum into a room of 144 columns, which are made of eight-metre-high barked spruce tree trunks. The name of the exhibition: David Chipperfield: Sticks and Stones was taken from the old English adage “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” The installation will be open for viewing until December 31.
Meanwhile, the well-known photography exhibition centre C/O Berlin (Hardenbergstraße 22–24; co-berlin.org) has moved into a new home. It was forced to vacate its previous premises in a former post office building in the Mitte district because property developers wanted to open a new luxury hotel there. Now C/O Berlin operates from the historical Amerika Haus, which was erected after the Second World War for ideological reasons, mainly to familiarize the people of Germany with American culture and politics. Built in 1956-1957, the building – which has also housed a movie theatre and a library – has experienced all kinds of events, including a visit by American senator Robert Kennedy, exhibitions by Robert Rauschenberg and Frank Lloyd Wright, and bombardment by eggs and Molotov cocktails.
In 2006, when the US embassy moved to its new quarters on the Brandenburger Tor, the Amerika Haus was given to the municipal government of Berlin and stood empty for a long time. In celebration of the relocation of C/O Berlin to the Amerika Haus, the Magnum. Contact Sheets exhibition offers a unique insight into the creative laboratory of the legendary Magnum photoagency. The exhibition showcases more than 100 contact sheets taken over the course of seven decades by some of the world’s most famous photographers. No longer used in modern-day digital photography, contact sheets reveal the sequence of images that a photographer has taken both before and after a defining shot, providing a further insight into his or her working process. It is almost like looking into someone else’s diary or into their wardrobe. The exhibition is on view until January 16.
Regarding Berlin’s ever-changing gastronomic scene, some features look like they may actually become permanent. Currently if you want to be “in” in Berlin, then you shouldn’t eat out at a restaurant, but rather at an “eating hall”. Right now, all roads lead to the Markthalle Neun (Eisenbahnstraße 42/43; markthalleneun.de) in the Kreuzberg district. Firstly, it is one of the few historical Berlin market halls still in operation. Secondly, it was recently restored and turned into an epicentre of gastronomy. Stalls selling local produce stand side by side with a whole slew of affordable eateries that have become destinations in themselves. Marked in bold black letters on Berliners’ gourmet calendars are Street Food Thursdays, which take place every Thursday from 5-10 PM and which have become a veritable laboratory of culinary experimentation.
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