When visiting Berlin, Germany there are a few things you should do. Trying Berliner beer and seeing contemporary art are among these. Well, you can do both at Kindl Berlin. The building is a former brewery on one side (Kindl Brauerai) and a contemporary art space on the other (Kindl Zentrum für Zeitgenössische Kunst).

I visited the location to check out the space and the exhibitions on display (free on Sundays, 5 euros otherwise). Here were the highlights:

The Building

The exterior of the building looks like a factory, and fittingly so. While the brewery is no longer functioning, the structure and many of the fixings within the building have remained the same. The center’s café sits in what used to be the boiler house, with six massive brewing coppers stabilizing the room.

Right outside the Kindl are various beer stands and urban gardens, a great place to try a local beer after walking through the galleries.

The center is made up of four floors, including the café, three of which are used for art. For my visit, only two of the floors were open, for two separate exhibitions.

The Art

The first exhibition, Exhibit Model Four by artist Jonathan Monk, was a huge trompe l'oeil project. The installation consisted of walls covered in photographic wallpaper, some featuring life-size spaces. With a quick glance, it can seem as if the gallery continues far into the photographs, kind of like the effect of placing a large mirror at the end of a restaurant to visually double its size. Monk references art history and features reproductions of work from Giacometti and Sol LeWitt to challenge the typical art-viewing experience. The exhibition explores spatial experience, subverts the traditional presentation of artwork, and humorously references appropriation.

One floor up, Behind the Screen was an exhibition exploring art and technology, a theme explored by virtually most existing modern day museums and galleries. One clever concept included artist Jonas Lund illuminating the the economically-driven aspects of art, allowing “shareholders” to purchase “stocks” of his art, which would then allow them to make decisions about his artistic decisions and career. It’s a comment on the power structures existing in the current-day art market. There was art inspired by LED screens as well as art with a robot vacuum as the automated paintbrush. Some cheeky neon wordplay by the art collective !Mediengruppe Bitnik was also enjoyable.