This weekend (28–30.04.2023) marks the first ever Sellerie Weekend, the off-program of Gallery Weekend. Naming an art festival after a stalky vegetable doesn’t just make sense on assonance grounds (gallery / sellerie): celery is an indispensable vegetable, it’s full of spice and aroma when prepared properly, pairs well with everything and is oh-so-healthy. This long green underdog is to the vegetable rack what the project space is to the art world. Berlin’s smaller venues are crucial to the scene: they’re often better, usually more diverse and always more democratic than the conventional commercial galleries, yet are often underestimated and overlooked, particularly by politicians. This makes Sellerie Weekend all the more important. The program is both clever and diverse, offering literally everything, from showcases (A Trans at Bahnhof Zoo with shows by Birgit Kjærsgaards entitled “Mountain of Sadness”) to car dealerships (Spoiler Aktionsraum is not there by chance; the collective was also involved in the founding of the initiative) and architectural monuments (Eternithaus). There are solo exhibitions (“Ein Mann hat Lust” by Jonas Zink at Raum für Drastische Maßnahmen), juxtapositions (“Touché” with Patrick Huber and Ute Lindner in the Kronenboden) and group presentations (“Sugar and Spice” at Scotty).
Then there are the performances (Xiaoer Liu at Rainbow Unicorn on Friday, Mirka Raiko at Hilbertraum on Sunday) sculptures (Florian Balze at M3), something post-digital (everywhere, but also Norbert Bayer at Sox) and paintings (Emilia Jechna at Somos). Up-and-coming artists (Kristi Kongi at Roam) appear alongside established figures (“How I forgot the Skin of the Places 2” at Die Möglichkeit einer Insel). Those are just some of the highlights – there’s so much here that it will be impossible to see it all. One thing’s for sure: we’re craving the leafy line-up of Sellerie Weekend more than we expected. As Austrian painter Maria Lassnig once sang, “It’s art, it makes the mind hungry first and then satisfied.”
Text: Hilka Dirks / Photos: Sellerie Weekend, Stephanie Kloss & Katalin Kortmann-Járay
Sellerie Weekend, (28–30.04.2023), various locations across the city.
Check out the full programme here.
@sellerie_weekend
