GROTTO is pleased to host Estd. 2008, a display by the graphic design studio HIT, founded in 2008. The display marks an interim phase during the transformation of GROTTO into Hopscotch Reading Room and serves as an interface between the outgoing programme and the incoming residency.

Rather than presenting a retrospective or overview, the display accompanies a period of change and makes that transition visible in the space. Between mid-December and mid-January, materials from HIT’s design practice enter the gallery window and interior alongside early elements of Hopscotch’s arrival. A bookshelf with books designed by HIT and plants belonging to Hopscotch temporarily occupy the space, anticipating the reading room to come. Visitors are invited to browse the books and look through the publications on view.

Hopscotch Reading Room is a bookstore, reading room, and event space operated by Siddhartha Lokanandi in Berlin dedicated to expanding and deepening engagement with literature, discourse, and publishing practices that emerge outside the Western orbit. Opened in 2018, it will take up a one-year residency at GROTTO from mid-January 2026. HIT’s display mediates this transition, holding the space while one programme gives way to another.

19.1.2026: Due to an unexpected and very substantial adjustment in ancillary costs, the residency with Hopscotch Reading Room unfortunately could not take place, which we all deeply regret. GROTTO will subsequently vacate its premises at the end of January 2026 and move into a shop-window vitrine across the street (Altonaer Straße 7, 10557 Berlin). We remain in contact with Siddhartha and are planning joint events at Café Tiergarten and elsewhere.