HALLEN 07. A Roof, Not an Argument

An inflatable figure in red, yellow and grey sprawls in front of a wall painting in green, pink and anthracite. It is big enough that people stop to photograph it, and it still loses to the roof. The Wilhelm Hallen in Reinickendorf were an iron foundry for more than 120 years, and it shows. There is a sawtooth roof with bands of glass, there are brick walls with soot marks and cast-iron columns, and strung between them are the trusses of an events rig. HALLEN 07, staged by Wilhelm Studios, has been running here since 5 September and spreads more than 50 artists across over 9,000 square metres, in a hall that is louder than most of what hangs in it.

The works come via ChertLüdde, Esther Schipper and Nagel Draxler, among others, with loans from the likes of the Berlinische Galerie, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg and the Schirn. On Sunday, chamber ensembles from the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester play.

A row of black panels with red LED grids runs along the columns. Cut plywood parts are stacked on pallets, and next to them stand chairs slotted together from the same parts. It often takes a second glance to tell whether you are looking at a work or at the fittings, and the hall is no help, because it shows off steel, cable and kit everywhere. Neon drawings of houses stand on slim poles with base plates, in blue, pink, red and white-and-green, their lines wobbly, as if someone had scribbled with light. The programme names Christian Jankowski's neon series "Luftschlösser" ("Castles in the Air") among its highlights.

In the middle of the aisle, a clay pot filled with white pebbles holds a plant. The leaves are made of fabric, sequins and copper wire. Some are in camouflage, one is silver, others shimmer like oil on water, and one dark leaf has two yellow-rimmed eyes that you only find if you get close. It is one of the few things in the hall that has eyes to look back with.

The strongest work hangs on a white board in front of the brick wall, and it is black and white. Figures in protective gear, ponytails and all, stand in a row on two angular armoured vehicles. What they cradle like gun barrels are oversized syringes with plungers and needles. Dense parallel lines model bodies and bodywork alike. An instrument of treatment is carried like a weapon, and the protective suits look like armour. Two neon objects stand in front of it, one pink, one red, their light dripping onto the concrete floor. The drawing holds its own against the hall because it does without colour, while almost everything around it is angling for attention with colour.

On a whitewashed brick wall hang at least three fanned-out objects made of folded segments, one in blue, red and grey, the others with violet, yellow and ochre. In a white gallery room, the name THORSTEN BRINKMANN is lettered on the wall, with a collage beneath it.

A side wing shows how it can go the other way. It has tall arched windows, round windows and a dado of pale blue tiles, and Bocci is showing "The Overview Effect" there, curated by Anna Carnick, with 20 contributors and the same run. Hundreds of translucent loops hang from the ceiling on thin threads, lit gold from within and dense enough to read as a swarm from below. The light falls through the dust in bands. The title comes from what astronauts describe when they see the Earth from outside, and this room gives you the reverse view, looking up from below into a glowing swarm. Here, for once, the room pulls its weight. The sooty walls make the gold look warmer. On the end wall, a textile piece of chains, fringes and rods in green, red and sand hangs down to the tiles, along with pale blue-green panels and a silver-grey woven house shape.

Towards 7pm the hall fills up differently. People with glasses stand around an empty, low grey stage. In the background is a gallery with windows, and behind the glass hangs a large black-and-white drawing or print of figures. Some people already sit in rows along the edge of the stage, waiting, and on the wall hangs a large black-and-white sheet showing handcuffs hooked into one another. As a walk-through, HALLEN 07 is worth the trip for the syringe drawing and the swarm in the side wing alone. As an exhibition, though, it has no order that reaches beyond the building. What holds the festival together on this evening is the old foundry's roof. It has no theme.

HALLEN 07 is at the Wilhelm Hallen, Kopenhagener Straße, Reinickendorf, Berlin, daily except Tuesdays, 11am to 8pm.

Photographs: Florian Jäger, 11 September 2026.