Passage

Architecture by Assaf Kimmel

The newly designed Passage space in Hall 5 was developed by architect Assaf Kimmel in close collaboration with the art education department and curatorial office of the Kestner Gesellschaft. The Passage is more than just a corridor — it is an active resonance space that unites art mediation, research, archival work, and public engagement. As an open spatial configuration, it connects different offerings for the first time, including kestnerkids, the accompanying program, events, as well as scholarly and artistic presentations of materials from the archive and the collection of limited-edition works.

The project is situated in the 15-meter-long corridor in the rear part of the Kestner Gesellschaft. The space connects the foyer, Hall 5, and the main staircase and is structured by an accessible auditorium made of tread plate facing a large presentation wall. Two areas are created: one for art education with kestnerkids and school groups, and the other for archival work and scholarly discourse. Presentation spaces provide room for books, archival materials, interventions by artists, and results of workshops.

The Kestner Gesellschaft holds an extensive archive that includes artistic editions, ephemera, and historical materials. Many of these documents have been only fragmentarily processed. A central scholarly foundation is the three-part Kestnerchronik (2009), edited by Veit Görner, who directed the institution from 2003 to 2014. The publication documents the institution from 1916 to 2010. In the Passage, selected documents — such as photographs, letters, catalogs, and posters — are presented in an open shelving and wall system as well as displays. The aim is to revisit the history of the institution and also bring overlooked aspects into focus.

With the Passage project, the Kestner Gesellschaft sets an important impulse for the further development of its self-understanding. The Passage is understood as a laboratory for artistic research and documentary thinking, where the institution not only presents its history but actively questions it. The Passage becomes a place of revision and opening, where new perspectives on the history of the Kestner Gesellschaft are stimulated.

Curator: Alexander Wilmschen
Assistant Curator: Emilia Radmacher

Assaf Kimmel (b. 1990 in Tel Aviv) is an architect with an interdisciplinary approach. His practice bridges architecture, installation art, performance, fashion, and speculative design. He is part of a new generation that views architecture as an open, collaborative platform. Kimmel studied at the Architectural Association in London, worked at OMA (New York City), among other firms, and founded his own studio in Berlin in 2021. Recent projects include the design for the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2024) and the mediation space Passage at the Kestner Gesellschaft (2025). His other works include the Tom of Finland Festival at Berghain (Berlin, 2024) and the Performa Hub (New York City, 2023). Kimmel also designs performative furniture, which he recently presented at Milan Design Week (2025). Assaf Kimmel lives and works in Berlin.