Short Answer Sunday: Ryan Balmer

Meant to elicit quick, intuitive responses, Short Answer Sunday will introduce readers to a wide variety of artists, educators, writers, curators, art enthusiasts and art adjacent individuals whose inclinations I admire. With the intent of getting to know the person behind the artwork as well generating new avenues to artistic discovery, participants may respond with only a few words or an artist’s name, always with the opportunity to elaborate if they wish!

This week I’m straying from my comfort zone just a bit to share a Short Answer Sunday with Berlin-based cultural historian and tour guide Ryan Balmer. I first met Ryan in 2023 when teaching the first iteration of my study abroad class, The Art and History of Berlin. Prior to this trip, I had never (voluntarily) taken a legit guided tour of any city, memorial or cultural institution (for this, I’ll let the blame rest on the glorious trifecta of wanting to make my own meaning from experience + not being predisposed to group activities + trying to avoid looking like a tourist). In retrospect, this was silly and undeniably my loss. I have since accepted that having a guide, especially one like Ryan, especially in a city like Berlin, provides an essential framework (factual and nuanced) for gaining a better understanding of a location in a relatively short window of time.

If you can take a tour with Ryan in Berlin or thereabouts, you absolutely should (book ahead, he is popular!), but I’m guessing most people will first come across him through his Instagram, where he shares reels, usually about Berlin/German history or relevant current events.  These smart, densely-packed fragments often expose overlooked stories and connect small details to larger historical narratives. His research and observations are thought-provoking and authentic, delivered with a top-notch sense of storytelling, no-nonsense gravitas and just the right combination of grit, empathy and humor. And I also just genuinely enjoy Ryan’s perspectives on all things aesthetic (from street art to museum/gallery shows, music, architecture, you name it) so I’m extra thrilled for this Short Answer Sunday. For more about Ryan Balmer, follow him on Instagram @berlin_reguided.
xo, Lauren

Name: Ryan Balmer
Occupation: Cultural historian and tour guide
Astrological data: Taurus
Hometown: Dundee, Scotland
Current location: Berlin, Germany

Other than Instagram, how do you find new-to-you artists?

I’m pretty lucky to live in a city that has a very large number art museums and galleries. I don’t get to check them out as much as I used to (life gets in the way) but I still manage to catch a lot of new stuff - Gallery Judin and Max Hetzler both have galleries in my neighbourhood, for example

An artwork that makes you laugh?

Pipilotti Rist - ‘Ever is Over All’

Pipilotti Rist, Ever is Over All,1997 (still)
Image Source

An artwork that makes you cry?

Gerhard Richter - ‘Aunt Marianne’

Most underrated artist?

My pal Scott Duncan

An artwork that you’d like to live inside for a week?

Anything by Carus (one of the big German romantics.) I’d feel quite peaceful in one of his gradient-heavy landscapes

Carl Gustav Carus, Tintern Abbey, oil on canvas, 24.2 x 36 in.
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An artist whose work you can’t stop thinking about?

Jeremy Deller, specifically ‘Everybody in the Place’. It made me rethink how cultural history should be taught

An artwork that feels like a warm hug?

James Turrell’s light field in Naoshima, Japan

What’s your favorite characteristic in an artwork?

Immediacy

Erotic artwork? (Ed. note: this is a multiple choice question)

Yes: ✅

What’s an artwork that doesn’t look like art?

This caramel pastry thing I ate last week in Prague. Simultaneously beautiful and diabolical

What’s an artwork that you suspect that you shouldn’t like, but you do (guilty pleasure)?

Not sure about art, but I really enjoyed ‘Dragged Across Concrete’ even though it seems to have very sketchy politics

What’s an artwork that you secretly hate?

Anything by Miro (although I’m not exactly secretive about it - I’ve been hater for years)

Most insane art piece?

I recently saw Christian Marclay’s ‘The Clock’ and the level of intricacy blew me away. I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days

Christian Marclay, The Clock, 2010, single-channel video installation
Image Source

Fav monograph or art book?

I was recently given a book by Bogdan Bogdanović where he discusses the anti-fascist memorials that he built across Yugoslavia. It’s a banger.

Fav museum or gallery in your current location?

Gropius Bau

Last exhibition you saw irl?

Graciela Iturbide - Eyes to Fly With at the CO in Berlin

An artwork that you’d like to see before you die?

I’ve never been to Mexico and I’d like to see some of the large-scale Rivera stuff

What’s a book that changed your life?

Kindness of Women by JG Ballard (but if I was asked tomorrow, I may well choose another Ballard book)

What song, book, podcast or film do you think everyone should know about?

I’ve been heavily pushing the ‘History of Sound’ on to anyone who’d listen. It’s quite recent and quite lovely

❤

Ryan Balmer studied at the University of Glasgow and moved to Berlin without much of a plan in 2008.

For more about Ryan, find him on Instagram.