Passage

Architecture by Assaf Kimmel

The Passage is a newly designed space at the rear of the Kestner Gesellschaft, designed by architect Assaf Kimmel in close collaboration with the art education and curatorial departments. Not enclosed, but designed to be permeable, the Passage sees itself as a mobile architecture of discourse, making history and stories open to inquiry. It is much more than an architectural connecting piece: it is to be understood as a living resonance space for artistic research, archival work, education, and the public.

Structured by a barrier-free auditorium made of tear plate and a central presentation wall, two areas are created on opposite sides of the room: one for art education—for formats such as kestnerkids—and one for archival work, artistic interventions, and scientific exchange. The Passage opens up a discursive space for critical engagement with the more than 100-year history of the Kestner Gesellschaft. Today, the archive comprises artistic editions, minutes, letters, posters, invitations, annual gifts, and internal notes—a rich but heterogeneous collection, some of which has been reviewed and some of which remains untapped.

As part of the exhibition beyond now. Editions (2024), an initial step was taken to catalog and structure the internal library and edition collection. The frequent requests from museums, researchers, artists, curators, studios, galleries, and auction houses searching for documents on the history of the institution testify to the need to activate the archive.

A central scientific foundation is the three-part Kestnerchronik (2009), edited by former director Veit Görner. It documents the years 1916 to 2010 and is supplemented by member magazines, catalogs, and a fragmentary online archive.

The archival materials are presented in the Passage in an open shelving and wall system as well as in displays. Special attention is given to the 1930s—the tenure of director Justus Bier—and the history of the Goseriedebad, the current headquarters of the Kestner Gesellschaft. The presentation is not based on a chronological sequence, but focuses on contextualization and free, associative links. The aim is not only to highlight key moments in the institution's history, but also to focus on the incomplete and unknown. The space is deliberately designed as a flexible structure for discussions, workshops, collective readings, and participatory formats, inviting artists, mediators, and visitors to use the archive as a basis for their work, to question it, and to develop it further with their own ideas.

Spring 2025 marks the starting point for the versatile use of the space as part of the accompanying program as well as external events. A variety of events will take place during the first run of the Passage: the children's vernissage (April 25, 2025), the artist talk with Som Supaparinya, Prof. Dr. Philippa Lovatt, Natalie Keppler, and Alexander Wilmschen (May 11, 2025), the panel discussion Passage with Assaf Kimmel, Team Kestner Gesellschaft, and Alexander Wilmschen (June 5, 2025), the kestnerkids Night of Museums (June 14, 2025), the kestnerkids make art (May 3, 2025, May 10, 2025, May 17, 2025, May 18, 2025, June 21, 2025, July 5, 2025, July 12, 2025), the kestnerbanden (June 22, 2025), the reading Yarasaların avlusunda with Şükrü Erbaş and Can Arkadaş e. V. (June 20, 2025), the artist talk with Göksu Kunak, Çağla Ilk, and Alexander Wilmschen (July 12, 2025), and the catalog presentation Cue the Cue and artist talk with Jack O'Brien and Alexander Wilmschen (July 20, 2025).

In addition, the catalog presentation El Lissitzky, DER NEUE MENSCH, DER ANSAGER, DER KONSTRUKTEUR will take place in the Passage on June 29, 2025, at 4 p.m. The catalog refers to the exhibition project of the same name from 2023 at the Kestner Gesellschaft, which is explicitly dedicated to institutional history and sees itself as a contribution to self-critical positioning.

Starting in summer 2025, the Passage will continue with additional content focuses: Lectures and artistic interventions are planned in the context of innovative approaches to dealing with archives and history. Moreover, the presentation area for archival materials will be redesigned, offering insight into previously inaccessible ephemera from the history of the Kestner Gesellschaft.

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.