Miffed dealer, Gerd Harry Lybke (no I didn't make that up) accuses other Berlin galleries of conspiring to keep him (and other established galleries) from the feeding trough of Amerikan mega-collectors and warns them “They are messing mit der wrong guy – pigdogs. Just remember Ich bin ein Ossie.” Meaning: hey I used to deal with the Stasi, who were like the Nazis, but with star quality. You want to be unfriendly, schatzi? Vee can be unfriendly...”
Phew! cracks in the well-oiled, German marketing machine. What can it mean? Actually I can believe it, having seen enough bitchiness and condescension from Berlin critics toward the provincial little Leipzigers and the former DDR in general. You get it a lot in the resentful recognition of Neo Rauch, and in the almost open derision of the Dresden artists. I see it as basically a growing anxiety attack by the Berlin art scene over not having quite grown its own yet, and desperate to find a brand, if only by excluding established brands. As usual, it's all about the money, and whether money can actually buy talent. So far, doesn't look like it.
London's probably better placed than Berlin for that kind of radical revision.
