Collecting Collections

archive-single-event-detail.php

Tuấn Mami, Museum of immigration garden 2023, Galerie Nord | Kunstverein Tiergarten Foto: Michael Zeeh

Kunstverein Tiergarten’s 2026 participatory exhibition and event program at the rk-Galerie revolves around collecting as an artistic, institutional, and private practice. The focal point of the three exhibitions is a display depot that will be developed together with visitors at the beginning of the project as part of a symposium. The symposium’s lectures, workshops, and performances explore theoretical and practical approaches to collecting.
Visitors are invited to bring an object from their own collection, present it, and lend it to the display depot as a temporary loan. Contributing to the emerging open repository of knowledge it can become part of the exhibitions throughout the entire duration of the project.

Collecting Collections

Symposium at the rk – Gallery for Contemporary Art, Möllendorffstraße 6, 10367 Berlin

Wednesday, 29 April 2026, 4 – 8 pm

4.00 pm

Welcome, project presentation and thematic introduction Julia Heunemann and Ulrike Riebel, Artistic Directors, Kunstverein Tiergarten

4.15 – 5.55 pm

Keynote talks followed by group discussions:

Dr Eva Bentcheva, art historian and curator | Can a Garden be Ar(t)chive? Tuan Mami’s Vietnamese Immigrating Garden as Collection Practice. (in English)

Roger Rohrbach, art historian, curator, co-director of Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim | Preserving and Accompanying. On curatorial and artistic care.

Julia Lübbecke, artist in the exhibition Critical Friends | Touch and go.

Dr Mareike Vennen, cultural studies scholar, Landesarchiv Berlin | Collecting images, narrating the city: From the photographic collection of the Landesarchiv Berlin.

17:55 – 18:15 Break

18:15 – 19:30

Networking tables: Collecting collections: Visitors are invited to discuss collecting, can introduce their own collections and present an item from their own collection.

19:30 – 20:00 Closing

Thursday, 30 April 2026, 4 – 8 pm

4.00 pm
Welcome by Julia Heunemann and Ulrike Riebel, Artistic Directors of KunstvereinTiergarten4.10 – 5.30 pm Keynote talks followed by a group discussion

Leah Stuhltrager Art collector, gallery owner, curator, including THE WYE | Experiences of an art collector. (in English)
Dr. Gregor Kanitz Cultural historian and archive consultant |Archives and everyday life – stories from the collection of the ordinary

5.30 – 5.45 pm Break

17:45 – 18:30
Sam Auinger Sound artist, composer and ‘sonic thinker’ | Spatial music: Rathauspark Berlin-Lichtenberg – site-specific sound project in the vicinity of the rk-Galerie

18:30 – 19:30 Networking tables Collecting collections:
Visitors are invited to discuss collecting, can introduce their own collections and present an item from their own collection

18:45 – 19:30 Summary and setting up the display

19:30 – 20:00 Closing remarks and end

Registration is requested—feel free to suggest an item from your collection for loan!
On-site registration: Mon and Tue, April 27–28, 2026, 3–6 pm
Registration by email: info@kunstverein-tiergarten.de