Berlin 37 Räume

Berlin 37 Räume [Berlin 37 Rooms] was an exhibition in Berlin that took place in 37 different empty apartments along Auguststrasse in Berlin-Mitte, which at that time was still a no-man’s land in the formerly Eastern section of newly reunified Berlin, where a profusion of DIY cultural projects, squatted houses, temporary clubs, and makeshift bars dominated. The project was organized by Klaus Biesenbach, founder of Kunst-Werke (a contemporary art space located on the same street) and was curated by 31 curators based in Berlin, each of whom staged a site-specific one-person exhibition in a single room. The project, which ran from 14.6–21.06.1992, included international artists like John Cage and locals such as Aura Rosenberg, and ran parallel to documenta 9 in Kassel. This is a quintessential early 1990s project for Berlin, which remains defined by its connection to contemporary art and the unique set of urban, political, cultural, and economic circumstances found in post-Wall Berlin after 1989.