Berlin, April 29, 2010

Tonight was Olafur Eliasson’s night. His Berlin gallery, neugerriemschneider, threw a dinner to celebrate the retrospective show in Berlin’s Gropiusbau exhibition space, and upwards of 200 or so guests came to celebrate. The event was held in Olafur’s boxy, brick and very large studio/factory, formerly an abandoned factory north of Mitte on the way to the Prenzlauer Berg area, itself a former working class neighborhood now rapidly being gentrified.

When we first visited the "studio" two or three years ago, it was a virtual ruin. It must take up half an acre. Now it is clean and tidy, with a large banquet/exposition space, brilliantly lit with the usual complement of glistening glass and mirror lighting fixtures hanging from the 30-foot ceiling. Classic Olafur gadgets, geometric models, arcane scientific instruments and a couple of installations ringed the party space. Olafur employes 35 to 40 architects, artists, designers, computer persons and office personnel, all dedicated to making the artworks. Michelangelo might blush at the scale of the studio.

The crowd was a well-dressed group of heavy-hitter collectors, with pockets of artists, professors, museum directors and critics thrown in for taste and spice. Dare sat next to the Director of the Moderne Museet of Stockholm at dinner. I sat next to a Dutch artist and across from Monica Bonvincini, a well-known Italian artist whom I would never wish to have as an antagonist.

My first encounter was with my long-time artist friend, Franz Ackermann, and our greeting turned into our customary wrestling scuffle. Franz was a professional soccer player and philosopher before he became an artist, and he’s a lot of beef to try to move around.

There must have been 40 to 50 long tables for the dinner, all open seating. Open seating comports with Olafur’s Scandinavian egalitarianism. It could not have been otherwise without insult to two-thirds of the guests. There is always anxiety to these events. Am I standing in the right place? Have I taken the most advantageous circulation route? Has so and so from Philadelphia noticed that I am here yet? I didn’t know that THAT guy had even heard of Olafur, let alone possibly bought one of his works. Will I get a seat next to someone interesting, as open seating turns into a kind of musical chairs? Am I having a good time yet?

All was justified, however, when I wended my way to the far rear of the room and saw a handsome group sitting together in comfortable camaraderie: Tim Neuger, Burkhart Riemschneider, Gavin Brown, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Elizabeth Peyton and Arto Lindsay. The latter is a fabulous Brazilian folk music and jazz performer whom I had seen perform but never met. Arto shyly flattered with a nice, short chat. You might or might not recognize who these folks are. Just say we knew them all perhaps 15 years ago when they were young, poor and on their way up. Now they are in their ‘40’s, successful, famous and happy. It’s a good feeling when talent, courage and hard work turn out just as they should.