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Almost every second work at this year’s Venice Biennale or Kassel documenta was “made in Berlin” – according to Werner Tammen, head of Landesverband Berliner Galerien, the regional association of galleries. Like a magnet, Berlin draws young artists from all over the world. New spaces for art are emerging everywhere – in backyard studios, converted factories and garages. Needless to say, low rents play a role here, but also and above all the very special atmosphere in this city between East and West, with its vibrancy and open-mindedness. Berlin is in the top league of art production, alongside New York and London. The city is home to almost 5,000 artists, and among them are the current stars of the art market, Norbert Bisky and Daniel Richter, who lives in Hamburg but comes to Berlin to paint. The galleries follow the artists – with new ones being opened constantly, in Brunnenstrasse, Zimmerstrasse or the Scheunenviertel. Then come the collectors. Art Forum Berlin is well-established in the round of big fairs for contemporary art. It now has competition in the form of the young Preview Berlin. This art scene is thriving, and the art market is forever on the look out for the new, and determined to miss nothing. As a result, careers like that of Jonas Burgert are always possible in Berlin: only two years ago he was painting his large works in a garage and surviving on a few hundred euros – until the Hamburger Kunsthalle bought a work during the Berlin Kunstsalon. The collectors followed suit, and today Burgert is tops in the world’s art galleries, his paintings now worth ten of thousands of euros. Yet another reason for artists to go to Berlin.