The German video art collector Julia Stoschek is to open a satellite exhibition space in Berlin in June. Housed in the former Czech cultural centre in Mitte, the new ga llery will host temporary exhibitions drawn from Stoschek’s 700-strong collection and will complement the 3,000 sq. m space she already has in Düsseldorf.
More than 15,000 people visit the Düsseldorf space every year, something Stoschek hopes to replicate in Berlin. “The plan is again to present the collection in the form of temporary exhibitions and to expand our reach,” she says. The Berlin architectural firm, JUNE14, has redesigned the 2,500 sq. m space.
The first exhibition, due to open on 2 June (until 18 September) to coincide with the 9th Berlin Biennale, includes works by Ed Atkins, Ian Cheng, Juliana Huxtable, Jon Rafman and Hito Steyerl. The show addresses the “influences and changes that have occurred since digitalisation in social reality, identity and nature”, says Stoschek, who first began buying art in 2003. Her collection features works by mainly European and US artists working from the 1960s onwards and includes video, multi-media environments, internet-based installations and performance.
For Stoschek—who is a shareholder of the Brose Group and great-granddaughter of the founder of the company, which produces automotive parts—the timing of the new venture is key. “Due to my engagement as a member of the board of the KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin, which is the official host of the Berlin biennial, it is especially important to me that the first exhibition opens at the same time,” she says.