nüüd.berlin was initially founded in 2016 by Henner Merle as “fine art berlin project spaces” and represents painters, sculptors and photographers and organises exhibitions and supporting programmes.
Henner Merle, a lawyer specialising in copyright and media law by training, lives his passion for art & photography. As director and co-founder of the former gallery ZFF – Zentrum für Fotografie in Berlin (1997/98) & co-curator of the exhibition for the successful book BERLIN WONDERLAND by Anke Fesel & Chris Keller (2014), he gained practical experience as a gallery owner and curator. In 2016 he founded the gallery Fine Art Berlin Project Spaces, which, after three successful years, renamed itself nüüd.berlin in September 2019.
After five years of numerous pop-up exhibitions at ever-changing locations, Henner Merle decided to take the next step and open a permanent space for art exhibitions in Berlin-Mitte in September 2021, despite the difficult pandemic year.
With the permanent location and the planning security it provides, exhibitions with the gallery’s artists and others will now be held regularly. In addition, it will now be possible to concretise and implement long-held plans – such as a cooperation with a New York gallery or an Indo-German project. nüüd.berlin gallery is intended to be an innovative place where new ideas are not only developed and realised together with the artists, but also a place where people meet to freely exchange ideas and be inspired by art.
In the series “nüüd.berlin intimate spaces”, artists and the art-interested public are brought together at irregular intervals in smaller, more intimate, confidential places – artists’ studios, artists’ flats.
In the new series “nüüd.berlin art + benefit”, the presentation of art is to be combined with a charitable cause and a portion of the sales proceeds donated to a charitable institution.
nüüd.berlin. Now.
“nüüd” initially has no logical meaning and nothing directly to do with art. It sounds unusual, is visually memorable and makes you curious.
“nüüd” is Estonian and means “now”. The gallery shows art from “now”, ie current, contemporary art. “Now” is the art to be shown, seen, advertised and marketed. “Now” artists want to show their new works, the gallery owner to present the recent work of his artists.
[nue:d] is a sonic pun, composed of the French “nue” and the English “nude”, both mean “naked”. Artists turn their innermost outward, exposing their soul when they express themselves with, through and in their art and realize it. They get “naked” when they publish the art.
nüüd.berlin. Now.
In addition to discovering and supporting new, talented artists, Henner Merle wants to introduce established artists, who have so far not been shown in Berlin or Germany, and introduce local artists nationwide and abroad.