Upgrade! Field Trip:
NewYorkRioTokyo Berlin

Thursday, April 19th 2007

Eberswalder Strasse 4
10437 Berlin / Germany
http://www.nyrt.net/wordpress/

In German

The non profit association "NewYorkRioTokyo" has been founded in summer 2005 with the purpose to create an international network for the promotion of young artists, designers and curators.

Please find more infos here:

http://www.nyrt.net/wordpress/

The contemporary art platform NewYorkRioTokyo has been founded in 2005 with the aim to establish an international network of young artists, producers and curators. The project space E4 in Berlin - Prenzlauer Berg until recently hosted video screenings, performances and other artistic interventions.
Meanwhile the project space has been shut down and the exhibitions moved to the Metro Gallery in Brunnenstrasse.
The association NewYorkRioTokyo is run by seven artists and curators from different countries. Upgrade! Berlin met Kai Schupke, one of their curators for a talk.

Please klick on the video here:

Besides his activities for NYRT Kai is also a member and curator of the Metro Galerie. Media aspect is for Kai an aspect of contemporary art and therefore a regular part of his exhibitions. "Media art is interesting, as our society is pretty much determined by media," says Kai, "therefore we cannot give a statement about our society without considering the media." NYRT offers an open spectrum of artistic works. The formal choice of the artworks is not the prime category for the selection of artworks. At this moment, the conceptual center of the gallery is based in installations and video art.

How are exhibitions organised at NYRT?
Throughout their exhibition practice, the curators of NYRT got to know many different people. This was the basis for many more projects to come. For every new exhibition they organise a dedicated project group. The association also collaborates with international partners on a regular basis.

Curatorial agenda:
There are currently two main projects with a particular socio-political background: Reloading Images , a platform for the cultural exchange between Germany and oriental countries. Land Escape , the second big project, deals with notions of nature in urban spaces.

Financial matters:
Kai says that they are regularly applying for funding. If they won't be granted cultural subsidies, they have to pay from their private money. The NYRT organisers wish for collectors who want to be part of the whole development process of the gallery, rather than just being mere consumers of art.

As I ask Kai how he sees the current hype about Berlin as the prime European art location he says:" It is convenient to live here - due to low prices and low rents, but you can't make real money here. If you live here and have your working base in the city - that's difficult. You have to get out of the city every once in a while and engage in international projects. Because cultural exchange is actually the driving force of this city." Kai thinks that the biggest potential of Berlin is the self-initiative of its inhabitants. As the government is very reluctant in puttting money into artistic projects there is very often also a lack of a general understanding and appraisal of art. He also observes that there is no real networking among the different art organizations. Also NYRT itself is not so much networked within Berlin , but rather in an international context.

We have visited the current exhibition "Science | Fiction" in the Metro Gallery. You can find more informations about this exhibition here: http://www.metro-berlin.net/index.php/news/

NYRT and the Metro-Gallery are always open towards new artists, projects and contacts. If you are interested please get in touch via one of these two websites:

www.nyrt.net
www.metro-berlin.net

In German