Sunday, April 29, 2012

Deutsche Guggenheim

The Deutsche Bank and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation opened the exhibition hall Deutsche Guggenheim at Unter den Linden in November 1997.  With my Deutsche Bank employee card I could get in free and I was excited to go see the exhibit from Yto Barrada, Deutsche Bank's 2011 Artist of the Year.

The excitement about getting for free because I was a DB employee was destroyed when I arrived on Monday and found out admission is free on Mondays for any schmo off the street. I had been so careful to make sure I brought my employee ID along but they didn't even bother looking at me as I walked in, giving me a silly but deep sense of disappointment. There is definitely something to idea of exclusiveness that makes everything a little shinier and I am embarrassed to admit that I am not "above all that stuff" like I thought I was...

Despite this, the exhibit was fantastic and I really liked the sculptures. The exhibit has now changed to the 2012 Artist Roman Ondak, and although I haven't seen it, I definitely recommend stopping by the one-room exhibit hall if you're in Berlin (preferably on a Monday!). It's in a central location and you wouldn't need more than 20 minutes to see everything - easy to fit into any schedule.







A funny side story, DB did a competition where two employees would be picked to have their faces cast for this exhibit. I have no idea who won, nor which sculptures they ultimately became a part of, so I spent a significant amount of time walking around the room (and later my building) looking at the faces to see if any of them seemed familiar.