Berlin Art Week 2025
From 10–14 September 2025, over 100 museums, galleries, collections, project spaces and the “Positions Berlin Art Fair” presents more than 300 events, including over 100 exhibition openings. For five days, Berlin transforms into a stage for contemporary art, with emerging voices alongside established names, many presenting works created specifically for the festival. The programme spans site-specific installations, participatory formats, painting, installation, sound art, film and performance—taking place in major institutions as well as former hangars, churches, industrial halls, studios and project spaces.
This year, several institutions focus on urgent social themes. “Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW)” presents a large-scale group exhibition examining the aesthetic, political and emotional dynamics of fascism. “Savvy Contemporary’s” “Close to Home” explores diverse perspectives on migrant everyday life, while “nGbK—station urbaner kulturen” stages “Trans_plantations”, addressing belonging, cultural border-crossings and societal place. At “ifa-galerie Berlin”, “What does it mean for a place to be loved?” questions the meaning of home, and at “Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart”, Petrit Halilaj debuts his first major institutional solo exhibition in Berlin, centred on an opera developed with the Kosovo Philharmonic that reflects on collective dreaming, history and belonging.
Other institutional highlights include solo exhibitions by Issy Wood at “Schinkel Pavillon”, Charmaine Poh at “PalaisPopulaire”, Christelle Oyiri presented by “LAS Art Foundation” at “Cank”, kennedy+swan at “Schering Stiftung”, Jiyoung Yoon at “daadgalerie”, Ruprecht von Kaufmann at “Haus am Lützowplatz” and Christian Thoelke at “Stiftung Kunstforum Berliner Volksbank”. A retrospective of Margarethe von Trotta and a site-specific work by Nora Turato will be presented at “Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.)”. “KINDL—Centre for Contemporary Art” hosts Erik Schmidt, Cornelia Parker, Phoebe Collings-James and Cihad Caner.
Performance works are a central focus. At “Neue Nationalgalerie”, “Perform!” features Joan Jonas, Yoko Ono and Isaac Chong Wei. Ivo Dimchev performs at “HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU2)”, and Jefta van Dinther presents a choreography for body and voice at “St. Elisabeth Church” exploring the human desire to revive the past.
Open House welcomes visitors to some of Berlin’s most renowned private collections, including the Boros Collection, Miettinen Collection—Salon Dahlmann, and Kienzle Art Foundation. “Meet the Artist” events with Nanne Meyer and Donata Wenders examine artist–collector relationships. On Saturday evening, “Discovering Collections!” offers access to usually closed collections. The “haubrok foundation” presents “Another Sunday Afternoon”, with performances, pop-up radio, concerts and an exhibition including works by Christopher Williams. The “Feuerle Collection” offers a four-part exhibition cycle combining paintings and astrological lectures by Alexander Graf von Schlieffen. The “Julia Stoschek Foundation Berlin” presents a major exhibition of Mark Leckey, and “Fluentum” features Jordan Strafer’s film-based surreal talk-show installation with actor Jim Fletcher.
The “Positions Berlin Art Fair” brings together 75 local, national and international galleries at the former Tempelhof Airport hangar. On Thursday evening, around 50 Berlin galleries participate in the decentralised “Gallery Night”: Société, in collaboration with Hauser & Wirth, presents “States of Being”, featuring thirty artists. Selected solo exhibitions include Monsieur Zohore at “KOW”, Maria Taniguchi at “carlier | gebauer”, Tauba Auerbach and Lee Bae at “Esther Schipper”, Anselm Kiefer at “Galerie Bastian”, Bruce Nauman at “Konrad Fischer Galerie”, Katharina Grosse and Grace Weaver at “Galerie Max Hetzler”, Henni Alftan and Andrea Zittel at “Sprüth Magers”, Louis Fratino at “Galerie Neu”, Andrea Fraser at “Galerie Nagel Draxler”, Ho Tzu Nyen at “neugerriemschneider”, among others. “Wilhelm Hallen” in Reinickendorf presents “Hallen 06”, a group show of over 50 national and international artists. The “VBKI-Preis Berliner Galerien” honours young Berlin galleries, with nominees Galerie Molitor with Jesse Darling, Mountains with Andrea Pichl and Eric Maier, and Robert Grunenberg with Meo Wulf.
Featured Special Projects
Unconventional spaces define this year’s “Featured” programme, culminating on Friday evening with “Featured Night”. Projects include “Crit Club” by Trauma at “St. Elisabeth Church” in collaboration with “Texte zur Kunst”, “Polyphonic Views” by “Spatial Festival” at “Passage im Funkhaus Berlin”, “Physical Relics” by Fortuna at “Alte Feuerwache Tempelhof”, and the performance series “Acts” by “Spoiler Aktionsraum”.
For the first time, students present works under “Shifting Tides: Art in a Changing Climate”. Pınar Öğrenci explores climate change at “Galerie Wedding—Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst”. “Industrial Witchcraft” at “Die Möglichkeit einer Insel” examines production conditions and artistic labour, while “Maximal” at “Remise im Wrangelkiez” unites Berlin artists Cathrin Hoffmann and Sophia Süßmilch in radical gestures highlighting displacement and artistic visibility.
Festival Hub: “Berlin Art Week Garten”
As the central meeting point, “Berlin Art Week Garten” at “Hamburger Bahnhof” invites visitors to explore the programme outdoors throughout the festival, with performances, workshops, drinks and light refreshments.
The full programme is available at berlinartweek.de, with weekly updates via the Berlin Art Week newsletter.
Berlin Art Week is a project by “Kulturprojekte Berlin”, supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion, the Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises, and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The event is realised with support from “Berliner Volksbank eG”.
