The artist Käthe Kruse (*1958) has been an integral part of Berlin’s art scene since the early 1980s. A member of West Berlin’s well-known music and artists’ group Die Tödliche Doris, she worked from 1982 to 1987 in the intersection between performance, music, text, painting, and film. To this day, Kruse also maintains a cross-genre approach and deliberate amateurism in her solo projects, creating large-scale installations that combine a variety of media and forms of expression. Her departure points frequently consist in everyday objects that she physically alters while assigning new meanings to them. Kruse’s works are often closely linked to her personal experience, but also reference larger social problems and topics such as domestic violence, abortion, and war. 
 

With “Käthe Kruse: It’s All Good Now,” the Berlinische Galerie pays tribute in its anniversary year to Kruse’s remarkable work from the 1980s to 
the present day. It is the first major institutional retrospective in Berlin. The approximately 50 works, among them large-scale installations, offer insight into her highly diverse oeuvre. The exhibition shows painting, object art, videos, photography, sound works, and performances. Kruse’s work is not presented in chronological order, but according to  thematic connections among the works on view. 
This corresponds to Kruse’s artistic practice, for which transformation plays a special role. In addition to everyday objects, Kruse alters completed works to situate them in entirely new contexts. The result is that her work is always in a state of flux.

Who are we and what are we doing here? Ever since Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) founded psychoanalysis, we have been searching our own souls for answers to life’s great questions. Psychonaut comes from astronaut and literally means soul-sailor. These voyages lead not out into space but towards the infinite expanse within us. In that spirit artists John Bock (*1965) and Heiner Franzen (*1960) explore the human psyche and its depths in their enigmatic videos. 

They draw inspiration from the cinema with its rivers of imagery, a machinery of dream and myth that has often been compared with the human mind. Bock’s theatrical film “COWWIDINOK”, 2015, and Franzen’s installation “Twin”, 2009, are both in the collection of the Berlinische Galerie and will be screened on the museum’s premises for the first time.
 

In her artistic practice Mariechen Danz (* 1980 in Dublin, Ireland) explores methods and models of human cognition. In her large installations and performances, often collaborating with other artists and musicians, Mariechen Danz combines established systems of knowledge used to understand and describe the world with subjective, alternative and magical perspectives. The starting point for her artistic research is the fragmented human body: its organs, functions and perceptive processes provide models for expressing new ways to build, exchange and record knowledge, truth and history.

The award winner studied at the University of the Arts in Berlin, the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita. Her works have been shown at the 16th Istanbul Biennial, the 57th Biennale di Venezia, Haus der Kunst in Munich, MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst in Vienna, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Kunsthaus Bregenz, The High Line in New York, New York’s New Museum and solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, GAK – Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst in Bremen, CAN Centre d’Art Neuchâtel and the Kunstverein Göttingen. Mariechen Danz lives and works in Berlin.

Since the early 1990s, the Dutch artist Rineke Dijkstra (* 1959) has produced an impressive body of photographic- and video work, offering a contemporary take on the genre of portraiture. By isolating people from their everyday context and searching for glimmers of individuality while focusing on subtle details, the posture and gaze of the subject, she encourages the viewer to look closely at people who are in transition in one way or another. Her solo show in the Berlinische Galerie will give an overview of her work, concentrating on the theme of ‘transition’.

Iván Argote is a visual artist and filmmaker. His sculptures, installations, films and interventions question our relationships with others, with power structures and with belief systems. The Berlinische Galerie is screening two films where he takes a close look at public squares, their history and their significance to urban society: “Levitate” (2022, 25 min) and “La Plaza del Chafleo” (2018, 16 min).

“Levitate” examines the role of monuments in European cities. The film records actions he carried out in Rome, Madrid and Paris to draw attention to the violent history of historical monuments and literally to dismantle them. “La Plaza del Chafleo” takes its cue from the verb “chaflear”, a word invented by the artist that might mean sunbathe, kiss, protest, rave, amble, dig or juggle. All of these are options for activities in public space.

Be it Berlin, Brasilia, Durban or Lagos, Akinbode Akinbiyi (*1946 Oxford, UK) wanders the world’s megacities for his photography.
He records what he observes with an analogue camera, predominantly in black-and-white. His pictures are visual metaphors that address cultural change and social exclusion, but also the impact of colonialism on social policy and urban design—as in the evolving series “African Quarter”, begun in Berlin’s Wedding district in the 1990s. With about 120 photographs drawn from seven different series, the exhibition illustrates key aspects of his oeuvre. The internationally renowned photographer and writer has been awarded the Hannah Höch Prize for 2024.

Özlem Altın (*1977 in Goch) is the recipient of the State of Berlin’s Hannah Höch Förderpreis 2024. In her artistic work, Özlem Altın prefers not to be associated with any particular art medium. At the Berlinische Galerie, she has engaged in a dynamic process of collaging and photomontage to create a multifaceted, site-specific installation, in which she examines – with a strong measure of empathy – the relational fabric between photography, archive, and body.

Kader Attia (*1970) grew up in France and Algeria. He rose to international fame not least with his contributions to the Biennale di Venezia in 2003 /2017 and dOCUMENTA (13) in 2012. In 2022 he curated the 12 th Berlin Biennale. At the Berlinische Galerie he is showing two installations – “J’accuse” (2016) and “The Object’s Interlacing” (2020) – where he continues to explore his concept of “repair” and contemplates the return of cultural assets stolen during the colonial period. His work is complemented by selected collages made by Hannah Höch for her iconic series “From an Ethnographic Museum” (1924 –1934).

Hans Uhlmann’s (1900–1975) metal sculptures, like his drawings, were a distinctive feature of post-war modern art in Germany. When he was imprisoned by the Nazis in 1933, he made sketches of filigree wire heads for implementation after his release. In the 1950 s Uhlmann developed these figurative forms into abstract compositions. The exhibition traces his œuvre from the 1930s to the 1970s. His role as a curator, lecturer and networker in West Berlin’s art scene is illustrated by some 80 works. This is the first major retrospective for over 50 years.

Architecture and nature inevitably compete for space. Three projects in Berlin turn them from adversaries into allies. Interdisciplinary teams draw on state-of-the art technology to tap the potential of fungi, trees and mud. This compact with nature lends the buildings not only an ecological quality but an entirely new character: they breathe, grow and take on a life of their own. Their surprisingly sensual properties can be experienced at the exhibition with its big installations. The innova tive architectural methods are explained in drawings, models and photographs.

Architects, participants, artists: Thomas Eller, Bruno Klomfar, Lehm Ton Erde Baukunst – Martin Rauch, MY-CO-X, Elisabeth Niggemeyer, OLA – Office for Living Architecture in collaboration with TUM, Reitermann Sassenroth Architekten, Ulrich Wüst

The collective Kotti-Shop/SuperFuture run an art and project space on the ground floor of the Neues Kreuzberger Zentrum at Kottbusser Tor. Here Julia Brunner and Stefan Endewardt have established an artistic practice that works closely together with the neighbours. It centres on designing the urban environment and just hanging out together. At the Berlinische Galerie Kotti-Shop/SuperFuture will illustrate how they go about their work. Their practice involves valuing neighbourhoods for their many different voices, understanding public space as a common asset that deserves protection and encouraging a community approach to design. A large installation demonstrates collective art production and the conditions that frame it. The exhibition will be accompanied by events and workshops.

The shapes created by the plant world are prodigious. Embedded within their own complex, highly sensitive ecosystems, plants intertwine with human culture in many different ways. The exhibition “Greenery: Plants in contemporary photography” responds to this multi-faceted theme. These contemporary works mostly from our Photography Collection address the often contradictory relationship between humans and plants through the medium of photography.

Edvard Munch (1863–1944) challenged his contemporaries with the radical modernity of his paintings, especially in Berlin, where the Norwegian Symbolist exerted a big influence around the turn of the century. The exhibition “Edvard Munch. Magic of the North” is a partnership with the MUNCH in Oslo. It tells the story of Edvard Munch and Berlin, illustrated by paintings, prints and photographs.

Julius von Bismarck (*1983) explores in his art how people define their place within their immediate environment and how society negotiates the concept of nature. He frequently uses deconstruction as a tool to question how, as a society, we evaluate nature as landscape and who asserts the right of interpretation.  For his show at the Berlinische Galerie, von Bismarck adopts a biographical approach for the first time, delving into his family history.

During the Cold War, some remarkable big buildings emerged in West Berlin as new locations for science, research and the arts. After years of neglect and now technically obsolete, most of these buildings are threatened with demolition. Ever since they appeared, these architectures have often been criticised as unsightly and inefficient. That view is being challenged today by a group of academics, cultural workers and politicians who appreciate them as achievements of modern Western technology.

Nasan Tur explores the political and social conditions that define our times. His works are experimental arrangements that draw attention to ideologies, social norms and behavioural codes and expand our options for individual action. To this end, he examines statements, gestures and images found in the media or in the public space and distils them into miniatures reflecting current social crises and discourse.

The Berlinische Galerie is showing Pınar Öğrenci’s film “Aşît / The Avalanche” (2022, 60 min.), produced for documenta fifteen. To make „Aşît“, Öğrenci returned to her father’s hometown Müküs (Bahçesaray in Turkish) in the region of Van, near the border between Türkiye and Iran. Öğrenci’s film shows traces of the different cultures that once lived in Müküs before parts of the population were murdered, displaced or forced to assimilate.

The story of our furless species on Planet Earth is told here in two playful installations that fill the exhibition space. Matthias Böhler (*1981 Aachen) and Christian Orendt (*1980 Sighișoara, Romania) formed their artistic duo in 2008. In this exhibition a huge monkey-like creature serves as a multiple source of “raw materials” for busy squads of workers. At the heart of the second installation a spaceship resembling a lotus bud invites visitors to come inside and explore.

The job of being an artist is characterized by extreme class differences. Poverty and social background are usually either fetishized – or not mentioned at all. The lived reality of artists is defined by less glamourous, non-public sides of the art business – by precarious conditions of production and financial dependency. The exhibition project examines these complex interrelationships and the often resulting contradictions.

The exhibition breaks new ground by devoting extensive attention to the Hungarian contribution to modern art in the German capital. Berlin was a formative influence for many Hungarian artists who, in turn, were a defining force in the art market. Restoring memories of this reciprocal cultural inspiration is the principal aim. It brings together paintings, prints, photographs and architectural drawings, deeply enriching our perception of artistic achievements from East Central Europe.

Painting is frequently pivotal to contemporary art discourse. Other genres seldom equal its ability to express returns and ructions, challenges and con-stant reformulations. In Berlin, painting has a solid tradition. The exhibition “Paint it all!” is a bugle call and a love letter to recent painting in Berlin. Featuring ten outstanding artists, it presents 15 selected works as teasers rather than as a stock check.

Tabea Blumenschein made her name acting in films by director Ulrike Ottinger ). Blumenschein’s artistic creativity also found powerful expression in drawing. The Berlinische Galerie has selected about 40 of these works to shed light on a hitherto little-known aspect of Blumenschein’s life. With additional photographs by Ulrike Ottinger, the show celebrates the artistic collaboration and friendship between these two important figures in Berlin art life during the 1970s and 1980s.

Sibylle Bergemann (1941–2010) is one of Germany’s bestknown photographers. During her Berlin-based career lasting more than four decades, she devoted great passion to an outstanding oeuvre ranging from fashion and portrait photography to literary reportage and atmospheric series. Her focus was always on people. 

To mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of Conrad Felixmüller (1897–1977), the Berlinische Galerie is presenting 37 prints and archive documents from the Wilke Collection in a room within the Permanent Exhibition. Hans-Jürgen Wilke, Felixmüller’s last printer. The extensive collection of prints reflects the great diversity unfolded by the artist. The loans are complemented by a watercolour and an oil painting from the collection of the Berlinische Galerie.

Nina Canell’s artistic practice deals with process, transformation and material agency. It does not revolve around the finished artwork, instead foregrounding synergy, entanglement and unpredictability. Her work is recognised for its experimental nature and its questioning of matter as inert, dead or instrumentalised. It is the overlapping trajectories of energetics, material vitalities and spatio-durational convergences that bring the work into existence.

In addition to numerous fashion photographs spanning the twentieth century, just as many  paintings and drawings testify to the role of fashion as a means of expression and representation of a particular era: from the reform dress around 1900 and the Dada dandies of the 1920s to avant-garde clothing designs in contemporary art. 

Ruth Hildegard Geyer-Raack (1894–1975) was an interior designer, muralist and textile designer whose reputation in the Weimar Republic extended well beyond Berlin. 

Drawing on the museum’s own holdings, the permanent exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie will, for the first time, display an original fabric produced at the “Vereinigte Werkstätten”, together with 12 selected fabric and wallpaper patterns and 15 photographs of client interiors.

Human suffering, sensual fragility and defenceless creatures are pivotal themes in the work of the Berlin-born sculptor and printmaker Louise Stomps (1900–1988). After training at the Prussian Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin and attending a sculpture class given by Milly Steger at the Berlin Association of Women Artists, she had her own studio from 1930.

The work of Alicja Kwade (*1979) is inspired by scientific, philosophical and social questions. By exploring models and constructs that form our perception of time, space and matter, her large-scale installations question the possibilities of objective and subjective knowledge.

The concept for “Park Platz” combines art with interactive events. A temporary pavilion by architects c/o now and new works by Berlin-based contemporary artists from many different countries will transform the museum car park into an urban forum.

The 24 works in “Look at Me! Women’s Portraits from the 1920s” reveal a diversity of practices in portrait photography in Berlin during the period: conventional and modernist portraits shot in commercial studios are on show alongside artistic and experimental photography and collage.

Berlin boasts a unique concentration of noteworthy buildings from the 1980s, and more than 30 years later they deserve a review. The colourful diversity of this architectural vocabulary challenged previous ideas of living in the modern world.

Out into the City! Audiowalks for the exhibition: https://berlinischegalerie.de/en/digital/anything-goes/