The Times Art Center Berlin, one of the few major offshoots of a Chinese museum in the West, will shutter after four years of operation in the German capital. The museum seemed to suggest that it may at some point reopen, although it did not provide a timeline.
A satellite space of the Guangdong Times Museum in Guangzhou, the Times Art Center Berlin opened in 2018 and has since distinguished itself with its cutting-edge programming. It has hosted solo shows for rising stars like Wong Ping and Zhou Tao, as well as group exhibitions such as “Más Allá, el Mar Canta (Beyond, the Sea Sings),” which explored artists from Central America and the Caribbean whose life and work bore out a relationship to Berlin.
In a statement released at the end of June, the Times Art Center Berlin blamed a “historic moment of global crises, when socio-political turbulences have already, or will soon, affect every aspect of our lives” as a reason for its closure, which it said was “temporary.”
The Times Art Center’s statement continued, “Looking back on this invigorating time of engaged conversations, creative challenges and collaborations that TACB has undertaken with a great number of artists, curators and scholars, bringing together a wide range of global contemporary art practices both on local and international art scenes, we are truly grateful for the constant support by the global art and cultural communities, and are proud to have found like-minded communities and independent projects to collaborate with over the years.”
