susanne-illers

Illers, Susanne

Festivals & Programme Series

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Berliner Festspiele

In 2026 the Berliner Festspiele celebrate their 75th anniversary. A selection of events programmed throughout the entire year engage take the anniversary as their theme or mark the occasion with works at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the Gropius Bau, the Philharmonie, on Berlin’s Ringbahn and at other locations in the city. Outstanding international that liberal societies and their cultural institutions face in a new, multipolar world order. artists such as Marina Abramović, Gabriele St&ouml;tzer and Akira Takayama will set the agenda both thematically and aesthetically. Entitled “Die gro&szlig;e Unordnung” (The Great Disorder), the four-day focus Reflexes &amp; Reflections will also enquire about the challenges.

75 Years of the Berliner Festspiele

The massacre, hostage-taking and rocket attacks by Hamas have shaken us deeply. The grue-some attack on Israel on 7&nbsp;October left us stunned and initially lost for words.

The Berliner Festspiele on Current Events in Israel, Gaza and Germany

With this letter of intent, we, the signing cultural organizations, express our intention to welcome, host and stage Ukrainian theatre artists in our venues, to make Ukrainian dramatic work visible to the European community.

Support of the Ukrainian Cultural Scene

More Berliner Festspiele

The Theatertreffen’s jury of critics announced their selection of the 10 most remarkable productions for the 2026 Theatertreffen. The programme will be published on 2&nbsp;April, advance ticket sale will begin on 18 April, 10:00.

Theatertreffen

Tickets for ten selected concert highlights of the Musikfest Berlin, which in 2026 will also mark the 75th&nbsp;anniversary of the Berliner Festspiele, are already available. The programme includes Gy&ouml;rgy Ligeti’s grotesquely humorous anti-opera Le Grand Macabre and George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

Musikfest Berlin

The exploration of myths and rituals shapes the fourth edition of the Performing Arts Season with works by Marina Abramović, Mario Banushi, Marie Chouinard, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker / Rosas, Ictus, Bl!ndman, Dumb Type, Damien Jalet / Kohei Nawa and Gisèle Vienne. The programme will be published on 18 June, and advance ticket sales will start.

Performing Arts Season

Upcoming

A dance collage by John Neumeier which explores aspects of German expressive dance through music, texts and songs and commemorates the victims of Nazi rule. Guest performance of the National Youth Ballet John Neumeier.

The Invisibles

The Berlinale as a guest at Haus der Berliner Festspiele

76th Berlin International Film Festival

as a guest at Haus der Berliner Festspiele

25th international literature festival berlin

Nina Laisné and François Chaignaud with Nadia Larcher

Último helecho

6 and 7 March 2026How does the bourgeois longing for revolt take shape, when the faith in progress and reason is unsettled? Berlin-based artist and director Leila Hekmat explores this question in her newly commissioned performance Roses Rising – The Movement, premiering in the Gropius Bau’s atrium. Moving between concert and ballet, the piece transforms the space into a landscape hovering between bunker, rehearsal room and dreamscape and invites the audience to witness a dinner party unravel into a happening.

Leila Hekmat: Roses Rising – The Movement

19 March to 28 June 2026Working in New York City between the Stonewall uprising of 1969 and the onset of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, Peter Hujar captured a pivotal cultural moment in piercing black-and-white photographs. In the exhibition Persistence of Vision, Hujar’s photographs are interspersed with contemporary works by New York City-based artist Liz Deschenes, opening up an intergenerational dialogue on photography.&nbsp;

Peter Hujar / Liz Deschenes: Persistence of Vision

Reopening on 15 March 2026Playing, laughing, making noise, letting off steam, doing nothing – all in an exhibition venue! With BAUBAU, the artist Kerstin Br&auml;tsch designed an&nbsp;admission-free play space for kids, where more is allowed than forbidden. On Gropius Bau’s ground floor, colourful wallpapers, structures, objects and open-ended material called “loose parts” configure flexible spaces that are shaped by children’s activities.

BAUBAU

15 April to 23 August 2026One of the most influential performance artists of all time, Marina Abramović presents Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition at Gropius Bau in spring 2026. The show traces her ongoing engagement with ritual, eroticism, death and the body as a site of political resistance.

Marina Abramović: Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition

Widely regarded as one of the most original and influential artists of the 20th&nbsp;century, Diane Arbus’ bold black-and-white photographs demolish aesthetic conventions and upend all certainties. With Diane Arbus: Konstellationen, Gropius Bau presents the most comprehensive exhibition of her work to date. Featuring 454&nbsp;prints, many of them shown here for the first time, Konstellationen offers new perspectives on Arbus’ iconic images and the wide range of her portraiture.

Diane Arbus: Konstellationen

Marking twenty years since artist, writer and performer Vaginal Davis made Berlin her home, Gropius Bau presents the first comprehensive solo exhibition of her work in Germany. In her expansive oeuvre, punk meets glamour, queer activism meets Black counter-culture and resistance meets desire. Fabelhaftes Produkt offers an overview of Davis’ practice and artistic collaborations.

Vaginal Davis:&nbsp;Fabelhaftes Produkt

A Play Space for Kids

Playing, laughing, making noise, letting off steam, doing nothing – all in an exhibition venue! With BAUBAU, the artist Kerstin Br&auml;tsch designed an&nbsp;admission-free play space for kids, where more is allowed than forbidden. On Gropius Bau’s ground floor, colourful wallpapers, structures, objects and open-ended material called “loose parts” configure flexible spaces that are shaped by children’s activities.

Ligia Lewis is a central figure in redefining performance within the context of the visual arts. In her multifaceted practice, she combines performance, live installation and film. &nbsp;From autumn 2025, Gropius Bau presents I’M NOT HERE FORRRRR…, the artist and choreographer’s most comprehensive solo exhibition to date. It brings together new and existing works that explore themes of race, gender, violence and resistance.

Ligia Lewis: I’M NOT HERE FORRRRR…

Upcoming Exhibitions at the Gropius&nbsp;Bau

19 June to 6 December 2026For more than five decades, Gabriele St&ouml;tzer has been grappling with questions of justice, gender and self-determination. Her own body often plays a central role in her work – not as an object, but as a site of resistance and feminist self-assertion. Opening at Gropius Bau in June 2026, Dabei sein und nicht schweigen will be the artist’s largest institutional solo exhibition to date.

Gabriele St&ouml;tzer: Dabei sein und nicht schweigen

We have been following EMAS guidelines for sustainable environmental performance since 2013. Find out more about our goals and the measures that we have already taken on the website of our umbrella organisation.

Sustainable Environmental Performance

Active since 2018, the national network DIE VIELEN formulates clear positions against enmity, right-wing extremism and attacks against artistic freedom. With the campaign “SHIELD &amp; SHINE”, the alliance is calling out to take an even stronger stance in support of a plural, democratic orientation of the world.

SHIELD &amp; SHINE – We Are Many

<h3>Sustainable Environmental Performance</h3>We have been following EMAS guidelines for sustainable environmental performance since 2013. Find out more about our goals and the measures that we have already taken on the website of our umbrella organisation.

All year round, Berliner Festspiele host a multitude of festivals, exhibitions and individual events in two houses – the Haus der Berliner Festspiele at Schaperstra&szlig;e and the Gropius Bau near Potsdamer Platz – and other venues in the city.

The Berliner Festspiele

Three productions at Haus der Berliner Festspiele

Tanz im August

On 13 January, the Theatertreffen’s jury of critics announced their selection of the 10 most remarkable productions for the 2026 Theatertreffen at a press conference. Our congratulations go to the nominated production teams and all participants!

The 10 Most Remarkable Productions 2026

Ticket sales are on.

Concerts, Performances, Installations, Discourse Formats

In interviews Eun-Me Ahn, Akram Khan and Ligia Lewis discuss their artistic practice and the creation of their recent works, which were presented during the Performing Arts Season 2025/26. Essays and a lecture also offer insights into the significance of dolls in Gisèle Vienne’s work, as well as into the rehearsal process for Thorsten Lensing’s Dancing Idiots.

Performing Arts Season 2025/26

Through diverse choreographies and forms of expression in contemporary and urban dance, young dancers explored what constitutes their own identity and how it asserts itself in interaction with others. The recordings of the productions invited to the Tanztreffen der Jugend 20245 are available in the media library.&nbsp;

Tanztreffen der Jugend 2025

In conversation with music journalist Peter Margasak and Nadin Deventer, artistic director of Jazzfest Berlin, trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith looks back on more than half a century of “Creative Music”. Also in the Media Library: two films invite viewers behind the scenes of the Jazzfest Community Film Lab.

Jazzfest Berlin

Find out more about some of MaerzMusik’s 2025 artists, including Joan La Barbara, Laura Bowler and Pamela Z: talks, interviews and a portrait have been published in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library.

MaerzMusik 2025

Watch the four 3sat “Starke St&uuml;cke“ from the Theatertreffen 2025 in the media library. In addition, statements from the Theatertreffen jury as well as various discussions from the “Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025“ are available online.

Theatertreffen 2025

On the future of debate culture: The videos of the second edition of “Reflexes &amp; Reflections with lectures, discussions and a late-night programme are available in the Media Library.

Reflexes &amp; Reflections 2025

The central theme in the productions of the Theatertreffen der Jugend 2025 is fear: fear of the events and catastrophes that come thick and fast, fear of war, poverty and failure, fear of manipulation and being overwhelmed by social media. Recordings of the productions and the opening ceremony are available in the media library.

Theatertreffen der Jugend 2025

Discover background information on Musikfest Berlin 2025, including interviews with selected composers and performers, stories related to the hidden object picture, and audio recordings of selected concerts, which will be available shortly after each event.

Musikfest Berlin 2025

The Treffen junge Musikszene 2025 presents a rather young line-up of surprisingly mature, accomplished and experimental musicians, including numerous strong female artists. Recordings of the concerts are available in the media library.

Treffen junge Musikszene 2025

In their 2025 texts, the young authors write about very personal situations and relationships, from issues of social and emotional integration to family histories and everyday observations, to questions about the global situation, politics, the climate, and social or economic injustice. The readings and other events are available in the media library.

Treffen junger Autor*innen 2025

In the Media Library

13 to 23 February 2025

Once more, like every year, the Berlinale will be a guest at Haus der Berliner Festspiele with a diverse film programme. On this occasion the house will be transformed into a high tech cinema.&nbsp;The spectrum of films at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele ranges from premieres and reruns of the&nbsp;Competition, Berlinale Special&nbsp;and&nbsp;Berlinale Special Gala&nbsp;to the&nbsp;Panorama&nbsp;section.

75th Berlin International Film Festival

Advance sales are now live: tickets for ten selected concert highlights of the Musikfest Berlin, which in 2026 will also mark the 75th anniversary of the Berliner Festspiele, are now available. The program includes Gy&ouml;rgy Ligeti's grotesquely humorous anti-opera Le Grand Macabre and George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

As an international co-production, artists Nina Laisné and François Chaignaud and singer Nadia Larcher have developed a performance that is carried by music, singing and dance at once. In “Último helecho”, European Baroque meets South American folklore and mythology.

Último helecho

In Thorsten Lensing’s new play, Ursina Lardi, Karin Neuh&auml;user, Sebastian Blomberg, André Jung and drummer Willi Kellers play characters careening their way from one disaster to the next. What defines them is an absurd blend of brutality and tenderness, anarchy and metaphysical curiosity, existential pain and zest for life.

Tanzende Idioten

Artist and choreographer Ligia Lewis’s new work “Wayward Chant” explores the intersections of despair and beauty through the mobilization of the chorus. A pared-down score unfolds, featuring moving, chanting bodies arranged in detailed formations.

Wayward Chant

The Berliner Festspiele organise a range of festivals and art exhibitions, concerts, dance and theatre performances, readings, lectures, debates and much more throughout the year. These events are presented at a range of locations across Berlin but are concentrated primarily at their own two venues: the Gropius Bau and the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

Festivals & Programmreihen

In 2026 the Berliner Festspiele celebrate their 75th anniversary.

Der schnellste Weg zu unseren Festivals, Ausstellungen und Programmreihen: The quickest way to our festivals, exhibitions and programme series:<ul> <li><a href="${link:{uuid:{55f81055-59ad-4284-b7c4-a3019f95610e},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau}}}">Gropius&nbsp;Bau</a></li></ul><ul> <li><a href="${link:{uuid:{26e11d22-b6fe-47cb-a18a-b6b29d9136a7},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/jazzfest-berlin}}}">Jazzfest&nbsp;Berlin</a></li> <li><a href="${link:{uuid:{3295227e-266e-442b-9094-c484230f623f},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/maerzmusik}}}">MaerzMusik</a></li> <li><a href="${link:{uuid:{6633a1a2-5791-4d37-85a7-e0b06fa105f2},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/musikfest-berlin}}}">Musikfest&nbsp;Berlin</a></li> <li><a href="${link:{uuid:{af5afe78-6bdd-4e71-aae7-9589124d87bd},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/performing-arts-season}}}">Performing Arts Season</a></li> <li><a href="${link:{uuid:{fa672cb2-855e-469b-8212-4dec36fe248c},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/theatertreffen}}}">Theatertreffen</a></li> <li><a href="${link:{uuid:{4edae657-6eda-4c0e-bca1-0ce354742029},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/treffen-junge-szene}}}">Treffen junge Szene</a>&nbsp;</li></ul>Dar&uuml;ber hinaus geht es hier zu den folgenden Seiten: In addition, click here to go to the following pages:<ul> <li><a href="${link:{uuid:{f9e53754-08cb-44b3-8aef-d1bc11968779},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de}}}">Startseite</a>&nbsp;(Home Page)</li> <li><a href="${link:{uuid:{9e5a1240-2f96-4b76-be7b-a8c3f2a22bbd},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/programm/kalender}}}">Kalender</a>&nbsp;(Calendar)</li> <li><a href="${link:{uuid:{1c781ff7-4d77-4925-af10-b8f846eb2b8a},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/besuch/anfahrt-kontakt}}}">Anfahrt &amp; Kontakt</a>&nbsp;(Visit &amp; Contact)</li> <li><a href="https://tickets.kbb.eu/kbb.webshop/webticket/shop?language=de">Webshop</a>&nbsp;(Online Shop)</li></ul>Falls das auch nicht hilft, finden Sie unsere Veranstaltungen auch auf externen Seiten: If that doesn't help you can find our event on external pages:<ul> <li><a href="http://www.berlin-buehnen.de/de/spielplan/?locations=80" target="_blank" title="Berlin B&uuml;hnen">Berlin B&uuml;hnen</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.museumsportal-berlin.de/de/museen/martin-gropius-bau/#section-exhibitions" target="_blank" title="Museumsportal Berlin">Museumsportal Berlin</a></li></ul>M&ouml;chten Sie uns helfen? Schicken Sie uns gerne eine Nachricht mit dem Hinweis, wo der Fehler aufgetreten ist: You want to help us? Please send us a message with a hint where the error occurred: <a href="mailto:online-plattformen@berlinerfestspiele.de">online-plattformen@berlinerfestspiele.de</a><ul></ul>

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Throughout the year, the Berliner Festspiele organise various festivals and art exhibitions, concerts, dance and theatre performances, readings, lectures, debates and much more. In addition to other venues in Berlin, they primarily use their own two buildings for this purpose: the Gropius Bau and the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

Day 1 Sunset

As part of <a href="${link:{uuid:{011b1681-384d-474e-9a61-d141e76ef7ba},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/2023/ausstellungen/kuenstliche-intelligenz/veranstaltungen/ethers-bloom}}}">Ether’s Bloom: A Programme on Artificial Intelligence</a>, Elisa Giardina Papa’s video series Labor of Sleep, Have you been able to change your habits?? takes over Gropius Bau’s website every day at sunrise and sunset.