Mega-gallery Pace is joining forces with Berlin’s Galerie Judin to launch a new joint space in the German capital this spring. Opening May 1, it will be in a restored 1950s gas station in Berlin’s Schöneberg neighborhood and will include offices for the galleries, a café, and a bookshop run by the publishing group Die ZEIT.
Pace and Galerie Judin will present the first show together. After that, they will take turns showing artists throughout the year. Pace will host two shows a year, while Galerie Judin will put on three. The galleries will not be operating as partners and will remain independent.
Pace has eight locations around the world and opened an office in Berlin in 2023 led by its senior director Laura Attanasio. She told ARTnews that Pace moved to Germany to “focus on supporting institutional projects for its artists and to deepen our connections with institutions and collectors across Germany.”
“Berlin is a vital international arts hub with deep cultural roots, and many of the artists we represent either call the city home or have a strong interest in engaging with its dynamic arts community,” Attanasio said. “We took the time to understand how we could contribute meaningfully to the city’s cultural fabric through pop-up exhibitions and collaborative projects. Now, we are excited to put down permanent roots in this new exhibition space.”
She added that Germany’s VAT reduction has also “played a positive role” in Pace deciding to set up shop in the country. Last year, the government announced that it would slash VAT for art sales to just 7 percent starting this month. Dealers had long demanded the move, arguing that the old rate of 19 percent put them at a disadvantage to dealers in other countries.
The gas station was built in 1954 and was abandoned from 1986 until Galerie Judin completed its renovated it in 2009. Its revamp was awarded the prestigious Architekurpreis Berlin design award. From 2022 to 2024, it housed a museum devoted to the German artist George Grosz.
Galerie Judin, which was established in 2003 in Zurich before moving to Berlin in 2008, is headquartered nearby in a former newspaper printing facility. “Since [the gallery’s] move to [Schöneberg] in 2011, the niehgborhood has evolved into the undisputed heart of Berlin’s art scene, just a stone’s throw from the Neue Nationalgalerie and the [under-construction] Berlin Modern,” Galerie Judin said in a statement.
“Undoubtedly, Berlin still is the European capital of art production and also, though changing, home to a vibrant scene of collectors and curators,” Pay Matthis Karstens, co-owner of Galerie Judin, told ARTnews. “Our aim is to provide the Berlin scene with another outlet and home – and to also strengthen the Berlin cultural scene by it.”
“The challenging art market development of the last years has proven again how crucial trustful and sustainable relationships on the side of galleries are,” he added.
Unlike most German galleries, the new space will be open on Sundays.
