Art Festival Hallen 07: After all, the journey has to be worth it

In the largest of the halls they float in space, where they belong: Berliner Christian Jankowski's “castles in the air” made of glowing neon tubes. Cute little towers with pointed roofs that curve outward at an angle, long arched windows, scraggly battlements. Jankowski made them based on drawings by employees of various trades at large construction sites in Berlin, based on quickly scribbled sketches on crumpled plans or pieces of paper.

They could be understood not only as counter-models to the designs of so-called prestige buildings in Berlin, but also as symbols for art itself, where someone simply implements their own ideas, no matter how absurd they may seem. And so the little castles hang pretty well in the Wilhelm Halls in Berlin-Reinickendorf in the middle of the Hallen 07 art festival. It is part of the Berlin Art Week, but already started last weekend.

The “07” in the title means that the festival is taking place for the seventh time. Initially it was called K60, initiated by, among others, the entrepreneur and hall owner Philipp Solf, together with a good handful of galleries such as Alexander Levy and ChertLüdde. It has grown considerably since then, but has also remained true to its concept of presenting art in a low-threshold manner for a broad audience.

The idea is that you spend a bit of time there, look at art, maybe take part in a workshop - last Sunday, for example, you were able to make paper cutouts with artist Sonja Sofia Yakovleva from the Robert Grunenberg Gallery - and eat a sausage and drink a coffee in between. After all, the trip to Reinickendorf has to be worth it and the 15 euro entrance fee too. Next weekend's program includes a performance with works by Charlotte Posenenske (Galerie Mehdi Chouakri) and you can get a tattoo by Franziska Nast (Gallery Mathias Güntner).

In addition to Christian Jankowski, who was invited as an individual artist, it is primarily galleries exhibiting in Halls 07. However, it can hardly be compared to a trade fair. The focus here is not on selling, but rather on presenting. The format works like a showcase, intended to generate interest in what is taking place in the main rooms.

Halls 07, Wilhelm Hallen, Berlin. Until September 13th

Or what was already seen there: The Wilhelm Halls have apparently established themselves as a place for secondary use for art institutions such as the Wolfsburg Art Museum, the Schirn or the Villa Merkel in Esslingen. You should definitely take time for the video work “Future of Yesterday” by Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca on the straight-edge scene in the Schirn area and the multimedia presentation by the Chilean-Peruvian artist Ivana de Vivanco on lithium mining in the Atacama Desert at Villa Merkel. The Berlinische Galerie, in turn, refers to what is currently going on: sand sculptures by Jeewi Lee can be seen, whose solo exhibition for the GASAG Art Prize 2026 opens there on Wednesday.