012 - Rough Lichtenberg challenges you, role model

Günther Förg, Haubrok Collection, Fahrbereitschaft, Berlin

Happiness in Lichtenberg

Hello Smart Art Lover,

The swan song still sounds over the Spree. After Flick and Olbricht, I am today focusing on the Haubrok Collection. After a two year ban on exhibitions, Haubrok invited the public to the open days at the weekend and to the rooms of the foundation in Mitte. What happened? Axel and Barbara Haubrok already bought their first paintings at the end of the 1980s. He himself ran a successful agency from 1990 to 2012. Haubrok Investor Relations accompanied the IPOs of numerous German companies such as the empire of intimate pleasures Beate Uhse or chic dressing in Birmingham Gerry Weber. During this time, the couple changed the focus of their collection from painting to conceptual art. In the 2000s the two began to present parts of their collection at Strausberger Platz. In 2012 they bought the huge plot of land of the former Fahrbereitschaft (carpool). Before reunification, the site in rough Lichtenberg housed the SED party leadership's vehicle fleet. You read correctly, rough. Flat White Mitte stopped corresponding to this trademark of the capital 25 years ago. But rough fits this ugly duckling of a sub-district like a punch in the eye.

The area is dominated by a so-called Berlin mix. Trade exists next to artists' studios, creative industry next to collection rooms. In 2018, after six years of harmony, the Haubroks received a letter from the Lichtenberg district government prohibiting them from exhibiting their work under a fine of EUR 500,000. Absurd in my eyes. The district councillor Birgit Monteiro justified this decision by saying that the Fahrbereitschaft was the first step in a process of gentrification that would take one of the last places in Berlin into its claws. In general, the fear may be justified. You certainly know the game. Run-down areas with cheap rents attract artists and creative people. Then come the galleries. Cafes and bars are settling in, and more creative businesses are moving in. This mixture enhances the whole area with its coolness. Then invade the real estate sharks who buy cheap, build and sell luxury flats in the hip scene district. Rents skyrocket, artists, galleries and creative industries can no longer afford them and move on. And the game starts all over again. In the case of Berlin, the gentrification wave is moving out of the S-Bahn ring. Now the district councillor has given up her seat in March to work for the socially responsible Kasper Hauser Foundation. At the beginning of the month, the district mayor and the successor to Mrs Monteiro signed a letter of intent together with Axel Haubrok. The Haubrok Collection and the studios are officially open to visitors again. A happy ending to the swan song?

Axel and Barbara Haubrok
Photo by Albrecht Fuchs

Great role models

On the Day of German Unity I first headed to Strausberger Platz, where the Foundation resides in a flat of the magnificent high-rise buildings that give Karl-Marx-Allee its GDR splendour. In the corridor and two adjoining rooms, invitation cards, posters and other paper products are displayed on metal glass tables. They are by first generation conceptual artists who have rethought the principle of exhibition. The very likeable son of the Haubroks, Konstantin, introduces every visitor to this niche of Contemporary Art on request. While the Berlin Biennale archive in the ExRotaprint is trying hard to grab my attention, I like to stay in this reserved atmosphere. Elated, I drive on to the rough Lichtenberg.

At Fahrbereitschaft the collection is divided into two places, several art ateliers are open. In house four I discover grid paintings by Günther Förg in a hall. Very pleasantly curated, I miss further texts. Opposite, in a large room on several tables and pedestals, I find the paper archive of Jonathan Monk, a conceptual artist of the second generation. An oasis for lovers of printed products. Next door, Wade Guyton is waiting for me, who has become successful with scanners and digital ink printers as tools. Okay. The Haubroks present themselves as collectors with a passion, who go into the depths of a group of works with great knowledge. They are great role models for aspiring collectors. Lichtenberg is cool.

During the Exhibition
with
Michael Asher, Robert Barry, Stanley Brouwn, Martin Creed, Florence Jung, Michael Krebber, David Lamelas, Les Levine, Lucy Lippard, Jonathan Monk, Klaus Rinke, Karin Sander, Barbara Schmidt Heins, Ricardo Valentim, Hans Weigand, [...]
September 11 – November 8, 2020
Haubrok Foundation
Strausberger Platz 19, 10243 Berlin

Günther Förg
September 11 – November 8, 2020
Haubrok Collection
Fahrbereitschaft
Herzbergstraße 40-43, 10365 Berlin

Visits only by prior appointment at visit@haubrok.org.

Be brave, gentle and smart.

Yours,
Florian