Mehdi Chouakri Gallery Will Take a ‘Temporary Pause’ From Exhibitions

Berlin’s Galerie Mehdi Chouakri said in a post to its 14,000 Instagram followers that it would “pause exhibitions.”

“After almost three decades of work at the gallery and some 250 ambitious exhibitions in various locations in Berlin, it is time to reflect on how this work can best continue in the future,” the post read. “In order to consider this issue carefully and calmly, the gallery will temporarily suspend exhibitions.”

“My decision was made for very personal reasons,” Joe Acre said in an email to him. art news. “As you know, the traditional primary market model requires more and more time and energy, and I want to devote more time to the people around me.” He said the gallery may hold another exhibition as soon as this fall.

Sales in recent years have been “steady”, Chouakri said, although he noted “some hesitation and slow decision-making by collectors,” adding that Bernd Ribbeck’s exhibition at Rudolf Zwirner’s house in Berlin was “almost sold out” while gallery artist Saâdane Afif The exhibition at Hamburg Bahnhof “was very popular and we were able to show several works and others were booked by two museums.”

Chouakri noted that the gallery will continue to collaborate with the estates it represents (Hans-Peter Feldmann, Charlotte Posenenske and Peter Roehr), as well as with the late artists Martin Disler and Salvo. For living artists, the gallery will seek “constructive collaboration with particularly valued and trusted colleagues and friends.” These artists include Philippe Decrauzat, Sylvie Fleury, Lothar Hempel, Mathieu Mercier and Gerwald Rockenschaub.

The dealer said a partnership has been finalized and will be announced on Friday.

He noted that a number of artists were having museum exhibitions that he would continue to support, including John M. Armred at the Museum of Art and History in Geneva, N. Dash at the Hill Art Foundation in New York, and Frederic Wellslev at the Neubauer Institute and the Oldenburg Kunstverein in Chicago.

The gallery has two locations in Berlin, at 61 Fasanenstrasse and 60-72 Kopenhagener Strasse. Dealers will keep both items “for the time being,” primarily for private demonstrations, he said.

Art galleries had a painful year in 2025, with art galleries on hold and dealers including Tim Blum (Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo), Adam Lindemann (New York), Clearing (New York and Los Angeles) and Claudia Altman-Siegel (San Francisco) closing their shops. Other galleries have also cut staff, including New York’s Tanya Bonakdar, who closed her Los Angeles branch; New York’s Sean Kelly, who stopped staging shows in Los Angeles; and Almine Rech, who temporarily closed her London gallery while retaining eight other locations from New York to Shanghai.