Contemporary art gallery Gathering opened its newest location in Cologne last month, breathing life back into one of the city’s most legendary spaces
Photography by Hendrik Poggenpohl
When Gathering, the contemporary London- and Ibiza-based art gallery with a reputation for its ambitious programming, opened its newest location last month, it showcased more than the work of experimental artists and their innovative expressions.
Breathing life back into one of Cologne’s most iconic spaces, the gallery revealed the transformation of Café Central, a fashionable bar, cultural hotspot and meeting place that once stood at the heart of the city’s avant-garde scene in the 1980s.
A beloved haunt of artists and intellectuals, Café Central was a place of artistic experimentation and exchange that shaped Cologne’s cultural landscape. Set just beneath Hotel Chelsea, it was often frequented by German painters like Martin Kippenberger, Günther Förg and Jörg Immendorff.
Photography by Hendrik Poggenpohl
Now, nearly four decades later, Gathering is restoring Café Central as a reimagined cultural force. Shaping the future of art in the area, the opening combines historical reverence with contemporary provocation, as the new café is meant to reclaim its place at the heart of Cologne’s creative scene.
With new galleries opening in the neighbourhood around Jülicher Strasse, art is leading the revival of the city. ‘The energy is here, the history is undeniable and the appetite for something new is palpable,’ says Alex Flick, the founder of Gathering and now also newly responsible for Café Central.
He continues: ‘With [Café] Central and our new gallery space, we want to be part of Cologne’s cultural revival, creating a place where art, ideas and community come together in a way that feels both forward-looking and deeply rooted in the city’s artistic heritage.’
Photography by Hendrik Poggenpohl
Flick was personally touched after meeting Dr. Werner Peters, the original impresario behind Café Central and Hotel Chelsea. ‘After meeting Werner Peters, the owner of Hotel Chelsea and [Café] Central, I was deeply moved to walk the same halls as many of my artistic heroes. Our expansion here is about tapping into that legacy and contributing to its next chapter.’
Inside the renewed Café Central, the space provides a design-led environment for dialogue and creative inspiration. The edgy bar – a sleek, site-specific aluminium installation by Mexican visual artist Stefan Brüggemann – immediately commands attention.
Anchoring the space visually and thematically, it bridges the past and present using striking materiality. In another corner lies Peters Bar, named after Dr. Peters. Wrapped in plush red velvet and featuring ambient lighting, the vintage-inspired space is intimate and luxurious.
Photography by Hendrik Poggenpohl
A bespoke carpet designed by Turner Prize-winning British artist Tai Shani punctuates the room, while Martin Kippenberger’s iconic mirrors, originally created for Café Central’s fifth anniversary in 1991, adorn the walls for the first time in a decade.
In the kitchen, led by Sigfrido Scuticchio – also of Mira in Ibiza – a Mediterranean-inspired menu fuses German and Northern European culinary traditions. ‘It’s a restaurant marrying traditional and modern approaches, influenced by the history of the place itself, adds Scuticchio.
This ethos of blending legacy with reinvention is at the heart of the new Café Central. It is, of course, a place for meeting – not just over food or drinks, but through the exchange of ideas, shared histories, interests and stories.
Photography by Hendrik Poggenpohl
The relaunch of Café Central dovetails with the inauguration of Gathering’s new gallery space just down the street, marked by a solo exhibition of the late German surrealist Sibylle Ruppert (1924-2011). Known for her brutalist style, she created a radical oeuvre of paintings, drawings and collages between the 1960s-1980s. Her work is now on view in Cologne for the first time since 1971.
Since its founding in London’s Soho in 2022, Gathering has built a reputation for championing both emerging and established voices: Emanuel de Carvalho, Tamara K.E. and Soojin Kang to Ndayé Kouagou, Wynnie Mynerva and Tai Shani, among them. Its Ibiza outpost, which opened in 2024, expanded that ethos internationally.
Once known as the “art capital of West Germany,” Cologne was a magnet for global creatives like Nam June Paik and Jeff Koons. Now, with Gathering at the helm, Café Central is reclaiming its role as a locus for intellectual, artistic and cultural exchange, marking an exciting new chapter for both the venue and the city of Cologne itself.
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