The Art of the Wall

Kirstine Roepstorff's Scorpio's Garden offers an alluring and telling snapshot of contemporary Berlin. The "Scorpio" in the title is Berlin itself, because Berlin was "re-born" under the Scorpio astrological sign. And although not all of the 30 artists on view are based in Berlin, the internationalism of Roepstorff's selection expresses the essence of Berlin as a city where expats thrive. At the same time, the image of a garden also complies with criticism of Berlin as an increasingly gentrified city where an image of wild creativity is being cultivated instead of allowed to remain unmolested. This duality is captured by Roepstorff's impressive use of the vast exhibition space, which is as elegant as a French garden with work arranged on and in a curved white ramp and careful clusters elsewhere in the gallery, while the temperament of the art maintains a feral integrity and often a rough aesthetic closer to the city's actual abundant unmanicured and inspiring vegetation.