nüüd.berlin gallery is a contemporary art gallery founded by Henner Merle in 2019, after having already been the director and co-founder of the former gallery ZFF – Zentrum für Fotografie in Berlin in 1997/98 and, from 2016 onwards, staging numerous pop-up exhibitions under the name “Fine Art Berlin Project Spaces” at ever-changing locations.
The focus of the gallery is on contemporary painting and photography, although most of the artists in the gallery are intertwined with the other medium in one way or another: Whether the painting has something photorealistic or the photography something painterly, whether photography is the basis and inspiration for painting or the artists have their creative origins in the other medium.
The artists of the gallery are as diverse and multi-layered as the visitors to the gallery; this also creates a varied and colourful exchange among the artists, which is reflected in the varied exhibitions.
“nüüd” is Estonian and means “now”. The gallery shows current, contemporary art. The art is to be shown, seen, made known and marketed “now”. Artists want to show their new works “now”, the gallery owner wants to present the latest work of his artists.
[nue:d] is also a phonetic play on words, composed of the French “nue” and the English “nude”, both meaning “naked”. Artists turn their innermost selves outwards, bare their souls and feelings when they express and realise themselves with, through and in their art. They make themselves “naked” when they publish art.
The 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. It is Henner Merle’s particular concern to take away the inhibitions of those who are new to art and to invite them to the gallery to let themselves be infected by the enthusiasm for art, either alone or in conversation.
The exhibitions are accompanied by discussions with artists, guided tours of the exhibitions, readings with a music programme, video performances, etc.
In the series “nüüd.berlin intimate spaces”, artists and the art-interested public are brought together at irregular intervals in smaller, more intimate places – artists’ studios, artists’ flats.
In the new series “nüüd.berlin art + benefit”, the presentation of art is to be combined with a charitable purpose and a portion of the sales proceeds donated to a charitable institution.