wanderlust

The Curious World Of Ralf Schmitt

First of all: Preview Berlin maker and Berlin Art Week initiator Ralf Schmitt didn’t let us ask any of the questions we had prepared. He found them boring. He didn’t want to talk about his expectations of Preview, failures of Art Forum (a former art fair hosted in Berlin) or the roots of Berlin Art Week. He actually recommended us to google the answers to these kind of questions. Either way we were happy to meet Ralf Schmitt who, along with Kristian Jarmuschek and Rüdiger Lange, directs and runs Preview Berlin – this year at Tempelhof Airport.

Gosh, is he that fed up with the topic already? “I’m not tired of Berlin Art Week. I’m tired of these old discussions about trying to reinstall Art Forum. About going back  into the past, dwelling upon mistakes and broken dreams.” He says. Ok, so let’s talk about something Mr. Schmitt feels like talking about. And he definitely felt like talking about the future and new projects. For example? “I really hope that next year we can get the BVG offering a public shuttle service in order to combine the art week partners. Then the umbrella brand will start to make much more sense.”

A tiny little question about expectations had to be asked. We were at the Preview opening ourselves and were literally overwhelmed  by the masses of people that kept on coming in. Don’t tell us that this hasn’t made an impression on you! “Yes, I was very impressed!” Mr. Schmitt had to confess, “5000 visitors came to the opening. Not even the caterers were prepared for it. At some point, we didn’t have any water, any wine, just warm beer. This shows that people are curious about Berlin Art Week. They want to know if it is just an empty phrase or if there is something behind it.”

So hurry up guys if you haven’t had the chance to check it out yourself. There are still some days left to immerse yourself in the artiest week Berlin has to offer.

Report and interview by Adele Barnau

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