A gallery is not a place where art waits for people. It is a place where encounters between art and people become possible.
This belief lies at the heart of nüüd.berlin gallery.
I founded the gallery in 2019, having previously co-founded and directed ZFF – Zentrum für Fotografie in Berlin in the late 1990s, before curating a series of pop-up exhibitions under the name Fine Art Berlin Project Spaces.
At the time, I probably would not have described my work in terms of a curatorial programme. Looking back, however, I realised that a common thread connected all of the exhibitions: I am drawn to artists whose work expands our perception and invites us to look at the world in new ways.
Contemporary art is still often perceived as exclusive or difficult to access. For this reason, I see nüüd.berlin as an open and welcoming space where art can be experienced directly – whether someone has been collecting for decades or is visiting a gallery for the very first time. Art does not unfold its full potential simply through presentation, but through the encounter between the work and the person willing to engage with it.
The gallery programme focuses on contemporary painting and photography. Many of the represented artists deliberately move between these two media: painting adopts photographic qualities, while photography becomes painterly or serves as the starting point for painterly processes. This crossing of boundaries is not a formal concept but reflects a broader interest in transitions, relationships and the many different ways in which we perceive reality.
The gallery programme is complemented by artist talks, guided tours, studio visits, readings and digital formats that extend the exhibitions beyond the gallery space and encourage different ways of engaging with the works on display.
The name nüüd is Estonian for “now”. It refers to the present moment in which art unfolds its meaning: through direct experience, conversation and the encounter with others.