Briefly (and incompletely):
- Memorial to the Murdered Jews of England. The memorial itself is impressive, public art with a sense of weightiness owing at least in part to (but not wholly dependent on) its object. The underground information centre was good too - very sombre-making. (w/ Jade, Ruth)
- Deutsches Historisches Museum. Large, well put-together survey of German and pre-German history and culture, from 100BC to today (or near enough - 1994). Impossible to go through comprehensively, but it held my attention, and I'm not normally one for historical museums at all. (Jade)
- "Based in Berlin" @ Neuer Berliner Kunstverein. Part of a wider set of exhibitions of contemporary Berlin art. Didn't especially take me. (Ruth)
- Hamburger Bahnhof. Several exhibitions in a wonderful space. I liked the large-scale Richard Long pieces laid out on the floor and far wall of the central hall/exhibition space, but the Rieckhallen, a long, converted basement space accessible from the main building by a long corridor, provided a true highlight, filled with a great range of 20th C and contemporary art set out in a series of bare, industrial chambers. To name just a few: Dan Flavin, Richard Serra, Sol LeWitt, and Gordon Matta-Clark are represented with characteristic, and striking, pieces; Donald Judd's "Untitled (Bull Nose Progression)" also left an impression. And three others whose names I hadn't heard before particularly impressed me - Jeff Wall's "Little Children" (three circular photos mounted high on a wall, porthole style, each with a child shot against a moody sky backdrop - accompanied by a model pavilion and exterior/interior schematics by Dan Graham with the circular photos inside), some deceptively flat, plain paintings by Thomas Schutte ("Museum", "Sackgasse", "Tor"), and Bruce Nauman's darkly Beckettian installation "Room With My Soul Left Out, Room That Does Not Care". (Ruth)
- Museum Berggruen. Smallish but carefully chosen collection of key classical modernists with a strong focus on Picasso. Also, some very nice Klees, and Matisse and Giacometti plus a couple of Braques. (Wei)
- "Surreal Worlds" @ Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg. A mirror building to the Berggruen (spiral staircase and gallery layout), just across the road. Exhibition covers early antecedents of surrealism (inc. Max Klinger and of course de Chirico), then running through the usual suspects, though disappointingly light on for Magritte. Tanguy's "Je suis venu, comme j'avais promis, Adieu" was a delightful discovery. (Wei)
- Australian Chamber Choir 2011 European Concert Tour - Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial Church. Europe dates were planned in part to be in Berlin to coincide with the choir's touring itinerary, since not only is ZG a standing member, but Kim was also touring with them. Enjoyed it, though I wasn't much of a fan of the (divisive) final work, Philip Nunn's "I Heard The Owl Call My Name". (Wei & others)
- "1900-1945: Modern Times. The Collection" @ Neue Nationalgalerie. A hot day, to the point of oppressiveness, as it was for much of my stay in Berlin, and I was pretty tired, so not ideal circumstances. Still, a cool ven der Rohe building, some nice pieces, and it contributed to my sense of the overall landscape of early 20th C German art, plus I discovered Georg Schrimpf ("Rundfunksender (Furstenfeldbruch)" [Radio transmitter], "Bahnubergang" [Railway Crossing], "Zwei Madchen am Fenster" [Two Girls By the Window]), whose elegant, finely rendered paintings reminded me of de Chirico's metaphysical style and appealed to me very much. (Kim)
