Opinion: Why Every Art Route Needs a Bad Gallery

I have a confession: I seek out bad galleries. Not incompetent ones — I mean galleries that challenge, confuse, or even irritate me. And I think every art traveller should do the same.

The temptation when planning an art route is to research everything in advance, read the reviews, check the ratings, and construct a perfectly curated itinerary of validated excellence. The result is a journey without surprises — comfortable, efficient, and ultimately forgettable.

The Case for Getting Lost

The most memorable art experiences of my life have been unplanned. A gallery in a side street in Rostock where a retired schoolteacher had hung her paintings — technically awkward, emotionally devastating. A video installation in a former East German sports hall that I found only because I took a wrong turn looking for a café. An artist's open studio during a village festival where I watched a ceramicist explain her firing process to a group of children, all of them transfixed.

Beyond the Algorithm

Cultural tourism platforms — including, yes, platforms like ArtRouting — face a fundamental tension. We want to help you find great art. But "great" is not always "validated by consensus." The most interesting galleries are often the ones that nobody has reviewed, that don't appear in guides, and that you discover only by being physically present in a place with your eyes open.

A Modest Proposal

Next time you plan an art journey, leave one day unplanned. Walk through a town without checking your phone. Enter every gallery you pass, regardless of what's showing. Talk to the person behind the desk. Buy a postcard. You will see bad art. You will also see art that changes how you think. And you won't know which is which until much later — which is exactly the point.