FEINKOST Gallery's Critical Program Challenges Art Market Norms in Berlin

FEINKOST, a Berlin gallery founded in 2007 by Mette Ravnkilde Nielsen and Aaron Moulton, operates from a 1950s glass pavilion on the former East-West border. The gallery's program critically examines art's use-value in society, contrasting with market-driven contemporary art trends. It represents artists with diverse professional backgrounds, including Arcangelo Sassolino (industrial design), Ignacio Uriarte (business administration), Daniel Baker (Roma Traveller heritage), and Andisheh Avini (Iranian diaspora). FEINKOST organizes thematic group exhibitions that blend emerging and established artists like Christian Jankowski, Douglas Gordon, Mike Kelley, Mike Bouchet, and Dorothy Iannone. Notable exhibitions include "The Art World" (an anthropological study of art world mechanisms), "More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid" (exploring non-monetary value post-market crash), "Schengen" (2008 exhibition on Europeanization featuring OMA/AMO, Matei Bejenaru, Pablo Helguera, Hito Steyerl, and REP Group's "Contraband"), "The Practice of Everyday Life" (based on Michel de Certeau's book), and "Sleeper" (a 2009 exhibition at Brown gallery in London examining curatorial reinterpretation). The gallery critiques art's commercialization, loss of locality due to globalization, and advocates for transparency and purpose-driven cultural production. In July 2009, FEINKOST marked its fourth anniversary, coinciding with global economic reassessments of art's value.