Haunch of Venison finally made it to Berlin. Since the announcement that the gallery had been bought by Christie’s, the art world wouldn’t stop buzzing, both in shock and disbelief.


There is a time-honored tradition in the art world that auction houses stick to “second-hand art” or art sold by dealers and collectors (the secondary market), leaving galleries to nurture the careers of artists and selling directly (the primary market). Because of these formal “rules,” the gallery sale upset the art world as it transgressed the unspoken logic of the market.


However, as of autumn 2007 Haunch of Venison has seemingly fit right in to the Berlin art scene (albeit their slightly off-the-beaten-path location) and compliments the already existing Haunch of Venison satellites in London, New York and Zürich. The gallery is more a project space or art lab compared with their straight business locations in, appropriately, the world’s business capitals.