International Fair for Contemporary Art: ART FORUM BERLIN 2002
26 - 30 September 2002
Foto: David-Brandt.de
Opening: September 25, 2002
www.art-forum-berlin.com
Fresh Art on the Move
Opening its doors for the seventh time this autumn in Europes most exciting and eagerly visited cultural capital, ART FORUM BERLIN, the International Fair for Contemporary Art, will take place this year from September 26th through September 30th. The professional Preview and Vernissage will be held on Wednesday, September 25th. Presenting visitors with a captivating overview of the most exciting and challenging tendencies in contemporary art, ART FORUM BERLIN continues to draw increasingly higher numbers of art-lovers, collectors, curators and critics to Berlin each consecutive year. The citys fascinating evolution into a world-class art metropolis further provides an incomparably enriching artistic back-drop for this most focussed of international art fairs.
In 2002 ART FORUM BERLIN will continue to sharpen its image as the international fair for cutting-edge contemporary art and emerging production. Germanys prominent newspaper, Die Welt, wrote last year that, No other art fair is more uncompromisingly set on young art than ART FORUM BERLIN. According to Gerd Harry Lybke, speaker of the Galleries Advisory Board, We have set ourselves the goal of effectively connecting our international partners with the inspiring and growing Berlin art scene.
The new, international Galleries Advisory Board has brought a younger generation of guidance to the fore. Under the direction of this new Board, the unique position of ART FORUM BERLIN among other international art fairs will continue to be fortified.
ART FORUM BERLIN 2002 will host approximately 155 galleries from 25 countries showing work by over 1,200 artists employing a variety of media including video, photography, painting, sculpture and installation. Many galleries will be bringing new work by artists represented at Manifesta 4 and Documenta 11 – among them the artists John Bock, Cerith Wyn Evans, Isa Genzken, Thomas Hirschhorn, Pierre Huyghe, Jonas Dahlberg, Takehito Koganezawa, Mathieu Mercier, Haegue Yang, Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani.
We are additionally pleased to announce this year the first-time participation of a number of new galleries, among them Friedrich Petzel, New York, Johann Koenig, Berlin, Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver, Frith Street Gallery, London, Gallery Ottensen, Copenhagen, and Kurimanzutto and Enrique Guerrero, both Mexico City.
Also of special note and in keeping with ART FORUM BERLINs unique geographic and conceptual orientation vis-a-vis its Eastern European neighbors, this year the fair is extremely pleased to welcome the first-time participation of Gallery Skuc from Ljubljana and Galeria Erika Deák of Budapest as well as the return of Galeria Foksal Foundation of Warsaw, Gallery Jiri Svestka of Prague and Gallery Knoll of Budapest. The high number of Russian galleries at ART FORUM BERLIN also confirms a trend. For the first time ever, five new galleries from Russia will be attending. Galleries XL and Aidan, both of Moscow, will be returning to the fair as in past years.
The specially conceived Project Spaces offered by ART FORUM BERLIN make it possible for younger international galleries to take part in the fair. Always a highlight of the gallery presentations, they provide visitors with the exciting opportunity to discover fresh young art close to the source. Among others, the galleries which have been accepted as Project Spaces include doggerfisher, Edinburgh, loop raum für aktuelle kunst, Berlin, Diana Stigter, Amsterdam, Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles, VP Studio, Moscow, and Wieland, Berlin.
The art fair management, the Galleries Advisory Board and the jury all expressed their determination to uphold even more faithfully the high quality of exhibited works, stand presentation and overall clarity that has been characteristic of ART FORUM BERLIN since its inception. Continually delighting visitors and exhibitors alike, ART FORUM BERLINs highly successful initiative of promoting cooperative partnerships in the form of shared stands between international galleries will also be continued in 2002.
As in every year, running parallel to the fair and free to fair visitors, ART FORUM BERLIN will again offer a stimulating series of panel discussions highlighting various themes relevant to contemporary art, cultural policies and new exhibition concepts. In addition to other topics, under the title Europe United, ART FORUM BERLIN this year continues its ongoing series of discussions dedicated to the art and cultural scenes and political discourse of Eastern European future EU members. Among others, invited speakers this year will include cultural policy maker Adrienne Goehler (Hauptstadtkulturfond, Berlin) and curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Castello di Rivoli, Turin).
In the context of Autumn of Art Berlin, and further expanding enjoyment of ART FORUM BERLIN, there will also be numerous exciting exhibitions and other events taking place in Berlin alongside the art fair. ART FORUM BERLIN now goes with an even stronger profile into its seventh year. We look forward to welcoming the international art community in our halls in September.
For further information, please see www.art-forum-berlin.com, or contact directly: info@art-forum-berlin.com
