HIGHLIGHTED #3: Gallery Weekend Berlin
Founded in 2005, the Berlin Gallery Weekend has grown to be a highlight of the international art calendar. This year, running from May 2 – 4, there were two events in partnership with the Tezos Foundation: the exhibitions VIRTUALLY YOURS and MASCULINITY – with distinct yet intersecting explorations of identity and technology.
Anika Meier_Katie Daenerys, a girl online, 2025
VIRTUALLY YOURS
Curated by Anika Meier for The Second-Guess*, in collaboration with Fräulein Magazine (OOR Studios), VIRTUALLY YOURS debuted on April 30 [at Wilmersdorfer Straße 151], continuing through June 13, 2025. The exhibition probes how smartphones, social media, and artificial intelligence continually reshape human identity, authenticity, and memory, navigating complexities in self-representation amplified by digital life.
Twenty-three international artists contributed to this inquiry, offering critical visions and speculative futures. Malpractice's digital avatar called ‘Flynn’ very provocatively encapsulates shifting beauty standards shaped by algorithms, while SOFF's creations question gender fluidity in an increasingly AI-mediated environment. Similarly, incisive digital interventions by Addie Wagenknecht and Ann Hirsch critique and explore tensions between digital personas and authentic selfhood. Works by Sasha Stiles and Ana María Caballero poetically mapped emotional terrains altered by technological saturation, while Charlie Stein, Leah Schrager, and Tabitha Swanson highlighted the constructed yet fragile nature of digital identities.
Credit: Jan Kapitän
Alice Gordon, Christian Bök, Franziska Ostermann, Joachim Bosse, Jurgen Ostarhild, kennedy+swan, Kika Nicolela, Margaret Murphy, Maya Man, OONA, Salawaki, Thomas Israel, and the digital provocateurs UBERMORGEN expanded these narratives further. Their works interrogate themes such as memory distortion, digital surveillance, the commodification of personal experiences, and how virtual representation reshapes human interactions.
Interactive experiences were central to the exhibition's design, with visitors engaging directly via blockchain-enabled minting opportunities, with a free mint of ‘hiii, i’m flynn’ by Flynn, a non-human AI student and digital diarist, who is a part of Malpractice. This allowed for immediate personal interaction with digital art, emphasizing the Tezos blockchain’s role in democratizing art ownership and creation.
*The Second-Guess is a curatorial collective founded by Anika Meier and Margaret Murphy. Based in Berlin and Los Angeles, they collaborate with artists, curators, institutions, platforms, and galleries to exhibit and discuss digital art that explores the relationship between humans and technology—with a strong focus on female and non-binary artists.
MASCULINITY
Simultaneously, Quantum Gallery [on Kurfürstendamm 210] celebrated its two-year anniversary with MASCULINITY, curated by River Davis and Kseniia Koma. Opening on April 30, the exhibition critically examines contemporary masculinity, scrutinizing intersections across gender, sexuality, race, and culture.
Seventeen diverse artists present works interrogating the erosion of traditional rites of passage into manhood and the resulting fragmented masculine identities. The opening night featured a performance by Clown Vamp, further energized by a DJ set from Eline Anne. These elements set the stage for the powerful narratives explored in the exhibition.
Credit: @michaelgeipel.de
Through varied media – including painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, and digital art – the exhibition reflects on historical shifts from communal rituals to capitalistic individualism, critically examining their effects on modern masculinity. Drawing on Jungian psychology, the exhibition articulates how the absence of rites of passage contributes to an arrested adolescence characterized by aggression, emotional suppression, and materialistic pursuits.
The featured artists present nuanced explorations of identity, advocating for more reflective and compassionate masculine representations. Rather than reinforcing stereotypes, their works facilitated dialogues about vulnerability, emotional intelligence, and diverse expressions of masculinity. They creatively proposed new cultural rituals and rites of passage relevant to contemporary social contexts, aiming to reconcile tradition with the progressive evolution of gender norms.
Additionally, on May 3rd, Quantum Gallery hosted THE PORTAL, a special event featuring a curated film screening of works minted on the Tezos blockchain in collaboration with Objkt.com and Cyberforms Gallery. The evening included an artist talk by Maya Man, followed by a panel discussion on the exhibition's themes of masculinity with artists Yuyu, Bernardo Martins, River Davis, and Kika Nicolela.
Credit: @michaelgeipel.de
VIRTUALLY YOURS
30 April – 13 June 2025
Wilmersdorfer Straße 151, Berlin
MASCULINITY
30 April – 15 June 2025
Kurfürstendamm 210, Berlin