How is Berlin’s art scene doing at the moment? If you want the answer, pay a visit to Nåpoleon Komplex, a new event space in Friedrichshain this weekend (18.–20.06.2021). Yolandé Gouws and Vanja Žanko – one an artist, the other a curator – have transformed the former Deutsche Bahn workshop into a temporary art gallery that is now home to works by over 50 of the city’s artists. Among them are well-known names like Alicja Kwade and Gregor Hildebrandt, but also exciting newcomers like painter Lexia Hachtmann and sculptor Nicoleta Auersperg. Yolandé and Vanja got to know many of them in the studios of established Berlin greats: among the 50 are some of Ólafur Elíasson’s collaborators. The exhibition organisers have deliberately left the overall theme of the weekend show open, while the forms range from painting to sculpture to photography. What unites the works is an engagement with the present. With their project, Yolandé and Vanja want to promote the city’s young scene and remind us that there are numerous talents waiting to be discovered not just in art, but from the architecture and design worlds too.
Text: Laura Storfner / Credit: Sebastian Körbs, NABLA DELTA, 2020; Maria Sécio, Scarecrow, 2020; Borghildur, I am still waiting for the title of this work
Hot Mess at Nåpoleon Komplex, Modersohnstr.49a, 10245 Berlin–Friedrichshain; map
18.06.2021 18–22h; 19.06.2021 11–22h; 20.06.2021 11–18h
Tickets can be booked online
On Friday and Saturday you can accompany the art with some natural wine at On The Skin festival, which runs in parallel.
