BERLIN.- This year’s edition of abc art berlin contemporary is themed about painting and takes place in Berlin from September 7th to the 11th. The show features some 130 artists represented by 125 international galleries. Conceived as a showcase of contemporary painting, the exhibition also features installations, works on paper, video, photography and sculpture which deal thematically with painting as a medium. Alongside with prominent contemporary paintings and works by international artists dealing with the medium, abc also presents an historical timeline of sorts on the discourse of painting: here, the medium is re-cast as an artistic alternative or possibility, not an ideology.

The participating artists were selected under the curatorial guidance of Rita Kersting, (former director of the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen), who, together with Marc Glöde (film theorist and the curator of abc 2010) designed the exhibition’s spatial setting and presentation.

This year’s show returns to Station-Berlin, located in a former postal railway station in Gleisdreieck where abc’s inaugural exhibition took place four years ago. Jan Ulmer of Ulmer TM will design the architectural setting within two of the station’s historical halls.

The decision to expand abc this year is a clear statement by the show’s organizers on the importance of Berlin as a center of contemporary art. With its numerous international galleries and central European location, Berlin has long established itself internationally as one the most vital centers of art production today. It’s indisputable that because Berlin attracts artists from all over the world, the city’s art production and art market is uniquely interwoven. It is especially important for abc’s organizers to follow up on the success of the past four years and help to continue to assert Berlin as a center for further development on the national and international art scene.