We observe all day long — looking, reading, registering. For most people, perceiving with their eyes is so natural they rarely think about it and certainly don’t define it as a skill to be learned. According to a 2012 study, the average time spent in front of a museum picture is 11 seconds. I theorize that this number has fallen even further in the last twelve years. Why not practice observing in the way we practice other valuable skills? The best place to do this is the Deutsches Historisches Museum (children are expressly encouraged to attend). In fact, the exhibition “Dive into the Picture!” is intended for children and is free of charge for people 18 and under. One of the newly-restored collection highlights is in the museum’s Pei building: four Augsburg Monthly pictures from the 16th century. Like a pop-up book, visitors immerse themselves in the paintings and life of the time. Those depicted in the paintings become narrative figures and explore four themes: people, play, trade and nature.

Did life look the same 500 years ago? What do the paintings tell us about the past? What do they choose not to show? Children aged six to twelve (the main target group) will certainly learn something new — that’s a promise. Anyone who understandably finds it too didactic in parts (the comic strip Luise can be hard to bear at times) can simply observe the four pictures. And easily spend 11,000 seconds doing so, as there is so much to discover within them. That’s another promise.

Text: Hilka Dirks / Photos: David von Becker / Credit: Deutsches Historisches Museum

Deutsches Historisches Museum, Unter den Linden 2, 10117 Berlin–Mitte; map
Dive into the Picture! Time Travel for Kids until 19.01.2025

@dhmberlin

The Werkbundarchiv is one of those Berlin museums that, despite its long history and universal collection concept, is still considered an insider tip. For 50 years, the “Museum der Dinge” has dedicated itself to a topic closer to people than almost any other: the product culture of the 20th and 21st centuries. Based on the archive of the Deutscher Werkbund — an association of artists, entrepreneurs and cultural politicians founded around 1907 — the focus is not on paintings and high culture, but on everyday objects. From design objects to banal kitsch, everything that represents society at another time is represented in equal measure. After seven months of closure, the Werkbundarchiv has found a new home. Even though the new permanent exhibition will not officially open until November, the museum is already celebrating the move from Kreuzberg to Mitte with a special exhibition that is well worth visiting.

The starting point for this exhibition is the museum’s situation: the change of location was not voluntary. After a real estate fund terminated the contract for the museum space in Kreuzberg, the team needed to look for a new premises. “Profitopolis” deals with the question of how land speculation has changed cities (Berlin in particular). Building on two previous exhibitions from the 1970s, the team traces the urban development of the last 100 years with archival material such as posters, books and objects. The exhibits, including a wonderful “Anti-Monopoly board game”, are complemented by artistic works. Daniela Brahm, who co-founded the flagship project ExRotaprint in Wedding, and Mirja Busch, known for her archive of rain puddles, are also taking part. The curators take us on a journey through time along citizens’ initiatives, traffic mise-en-scènes, and environmentally friendly construction, at the end of which the question arises: Who owns the city and how can it be reclaimed?

Text: Laura Storfner / Credit: JF, Werkbundarchiv, Museum der Dinge

Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge, Leipziger Str.54, 10117 Berlin–Mitte; map

“Profitopolis or the Condition of the City” until 28.02.2025. The new permanent exhibition opens on 08.11.2024.

Summertime means group exhibition time. And that’s particularly the case at CCA, now located in the foyer of the Memorial Church. The nonprofit Center for Contemporary Arts has stayed (for the most part) under the radar and is opening its doors on Breitscheidplatz tonight (11.07.2024), both for its second exhibition with the pragmatic title “Summer 24” and for the newly inaugurated small artists’ bookstore. In the wood-paneled building, designed by Egon Eiermann, works by Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Thea Djordjadze, Nika Kutateladze, Klara Lidén, Albert Leo Peil, Rosemarie Trockel and Andro Wekua are gathered, united by a common thread: dark subtlety and a restrained yet beguiling aesthetic. The exhibition program is complemented by artist talks. The first talk is with Georgian painter Nika Kutateladze and director Fabian Schöneich and will take place this Saturday (13.07.24) at 14h. Summertime is group exhibition time, and you should not miss this one! 

Text: Hilka Dirks / Credits: Diana Pfammatter, Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Decreating, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Molitor, Berlin

CCA – Center for Contemporary Arts, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche, Foyer building, 10789 Berlin–Charlottenburg; map

@ccaberlin