(In collaboration with +-Comma)
Marat Guelman’s exhibition NEU-BÄRLINER unfolds within the space of the Lomonosov Schule—a building that can be viewed as an artistic statement in its own right. Along the school’s long gallery corridor, the viewer's movement transforms into a sequential experience: a journey mirroring the history of art as a process of continuous evolution and reinterpretation.
This spatial dynamic seamlessly reflects the inner logic of the exposition. Known primarily as an art historian, curator, and contemporary art theorist, Marat Guelman has actively engaged with artificial intelligence technologies in recent years. Here, he constructs a series of works as a visual exploration of his own biography, cultural context, and artistic memory.
Dedicated to the artist’s relocation to Berlin, the project opens with the image of a bear—serving not only as the city’s iconic symbol, but also as a narrative gateway. From there, the exposition unfolds through a chain of references, illusions, and reinterpretations: spanning from ancient Egyptian tablets to the painterly strategies of Gerhard Richter and the conceptual practices of Ai Weiwei. Rather than illustrating art history literally, these transitions reveal it as a living, fluid system of imagery and meaning, where personal lived experience merges into a shared cultural space.
The educational dimension plays a vital role in the project. Senior students studying advanced art history act as exhibition mediators and guides between the artworks and the public. Their participation transforms the exhibition into a space for active dialogue, where interpretation is not prescribed in advance, but emerges through shared conversation.
In this way, NEU-BÄRLINER exists simultaneously across two dimensions: as an artistic statement on memory, identity, and cultural navigation, and as a pedagogical model where art functions as a tool for critical thought, debate, and collective experience.
The exhibition invites the viewer not merely to observe, but to engage in movement—both intellectual and physical—turning the viewing experience into a journey across the intersections of personal history and art history.
Opening of the Exhibition "NEU-BÄRLINER"
Thursday, September 3, 2026, 4:30 PM
Lomonosov International School Berlin-Marzahn
Brebacher Weg 15, House 17
12683 Berlin
