Gropius Bau

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Located in the centre of Berlin, the Gropius Bau is a lively place for encounters with art and each other. As an internationally renowned exhibition centre, it offers space for major exhibitions and performances by contemporary artists.

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There are currently no exhibitions on view at Gropius Bau.

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Gropius Bau 2026

Exhibitions & Projects

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Our newsletters keep you updated on current and upcoming exhibitions and events. Learn more about our kids programme and plan your next visit.

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We’re Looking Forward to Welcoming You Again in March!

Gropius Bau is currently closed for exhibition preparations. Our restaurant Beba and our bookstore will reopen on 4 March, before we kick off our spring programme, featuring a performance by <a href="${link:{uuid:{16d14ae2-9463-45b4-91de-95a846c0f377},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/2026/veranstaltungen/leila-hekmat}}}">Leila Hekmat</a>, the <a href="${link:{uuid:{fd3f9e70-97e8-46fb-b639-fc701f8d4039},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/baubau/veranstaltungen/baubau-play-day-pop-up-26}}}">big pop-up</a> of our play space BAUBAU and the opening of our <a href="${link:{uuid:{baa82be9-6411-41e5-806b-4889004c8459},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/2026/ausstellungen/peter-hujar-liz-deschenes}}}">Peter Hujar / Liz Deschenes</a> exhibition. Find more details in our <a href="${link:{uuid:{62c3018b-bb40-46ce-8019-646ec5cd2e4a},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/besuch/informationen}}}">Information &amp; Tickets</a> section.

See You Soon

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Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition

Marina Abramović

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With Andrew Durbin, Biliana Voutchkova, Gary Schneider, Queer Analog Darkroom and Selin Davasse – free admission

Sp&auml;tschicht x C/O Berlin

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Tickets for ten selected concert highlights of the Musikfest Berlin, which in 2026 will also mark the 75th anniversary of the Berliner Festspiele, are 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

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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 Berlin, on Berlin’s Ringbahn and at other locations in the city.&nbsp;

75 Years of the Berliner Festspiele

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The programme has been published. Advance ticket sales will start on 18&nbsp;April at 10:00.

Theatertreffen

More Berliner Festspiele

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The programme has been published. Tickets are available now. Selected from more than 700&nbsp;productions, Theatertreffen once again presents the 10&nbsp;most remarkable productions of the year in May. The festival is complemented by the new format Mehr Drama! as well as a series of conversations curated by Matthias Dell on aesthetic, social and culture-political issues.

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The Practice – What Moves Artists

The Practice – What Moves Artists&nbsp;is a book series by Gropius Bau that invites artists to showcase a practice that they pursue, that has influenced them or that has been with them for a long time. In the third volume of the series On the Erotic, performance artist Marina Abramović talks about female sexuality after menopause, the eroticism of the masses and her love for the planet.

Marina Abramović: On the Erotic

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A Vibrant Place for Enganging with Art and Each Other

Located in the centre of Berlin, Gropius Bau is a lively place to encounter art and each other. The internationally renowned institution is part of the Berliner Festspiele and stages large-scale exhibitions and performances by contemporary artists, offering new perspectives on our present.

About Gropius Bau

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The Practice – What Moves Artists&nbsp;is a book series by Gropius Bau that invites artists to showcase a practice that they pursue, that has influenced them or that has been with them for a long time. In the second volume of the series, artist, performer and author Vaginal Davis looks back on the saucy underground scenes of Los Angeles and Berlin together with former bandmates.&nbsp;On Dangerous Ground recounts past gigs, spectacular live performances and well-kept secrets.

Vaginal Davis: On Dangerous Ground

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Widely regarded as one of the most original and influential artists of the 20th century, Diane Arbus’ bold black-and-white photographs demolish aesthetic conventions and upend all certainties. With&nbsp;Diane Arbus: Konstellationen, Gropius Bau presents the most comprehensive exhibition of her work to date.

Diane Arbus: Konstellationen

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Ligia Lewis is a central figure in redefining performance within the context of the visual arts. Her solo exhibition&nbsp;I’M NOT HERE FORRRRR… at Gropius Bau&nbsp;brings&nbsp;together new and existing works that explore themes of race, gender, violence and resistance.

Ligia Lewis:I’M NOT HERE FORRRRR...

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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:A&nbsp;Play Space for Kids

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What is and has been the role of play in public space? Gabriela Burkhalter’s&nbsp;Playing in the City&nbsp;presentation traces the history of playgrounds since their emergence in 1900 to today. The free presentation is open to all and can be seen in two rooms next to BAUBAU’s entrance.

Playing in the City:A Short History from 1900 to the Present

Currently at Gropius Bau

Widely regarded as one of the most original and influential artists of the 20th 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 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.

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. 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…

Current Exhibitions

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Peter Hujar / Liz Deschenes: Persistence of Vision

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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. They set the tone and decide what happens in this place.

BAUBAU

Spielen in der Stadt

A Short History from 1900 to the Present

What has been the role of play in public space, both historically and in the present? Complementing BAUBAU, our free play space for kids, Gabriela Burkhalter’s Playing in the City presentation traces the history of playgrounds since their emergence in 1900 to today. The free presentation is open to all and can be seen in two rooms next to the play space’s entrance.

Playing in the City

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Marina Abramović, one of the most influential contemporary artists, presents Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition at Gropius Bau, marking her first major solo show in Berlin since the 1990s. The exhibition brings together historical and new works by the performance artist, tracing her ongoing engagement with ritual, eroticism, death and the body as a site of political resistance.

Marina Abramović: Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition

Currently and Upcoming

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With Andrew Durbin, Biliana Voutchkova, Gary Schneider, Queer Analog Darkroom and Selin Davasse

On the occasion of <a href="${link:{uuid:{baa82be9-6411-41e5-806b-4889004c8459},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/2026/ausstellungen/peter-hujar-liz-deschenes}}}">Peter Hujar / Liz Deschenes: Persistence of Vision</a>, Sp&auml;tschicht x C/O Berlin turns its focus on 26 March to photography within the shifting terrains of urban space, visibility, and resistance. Look forward to performances, a workshop, a screening and a reading. Admission is free.

We are looking forward to welcoming you back in mid-March with the reopening of our play space, <a href="${link:{uuid:{df42e57d-a14a-4b44-a5e4-9d3e7dcab5a6},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/baubau}}}">BAUBAU</a> (on 22 March), and two exhibitions, <a href="${link:{uuid:{55d64239-53fe-4b12-8567-a63191c6cae4},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/2025/ausstellungen/vaginal-davis}}}">Vaginal Davis: Fabelhaftes Produkt</a> (from 21 March) and <a href="${link:{uuid:{9618c701-bd05-432e-b688-5943e1f7fc57},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/2025/ausstellungen/yoko-ono}}}">YOKO ONO: MUSIC OF THE MIND</a> (from 11 April). For details on opening hours and tickets, please visit our <a href="${link:{uuid:{62c3018b-bb40-46ce-8019-646ec5cd2e4a},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/besuch/informationen}}}">Information &amp; Tickets</a> page. We look forward to seeing you soon!

See you in March!

Persistence of Vision

Working 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

A&nbsp;Play Space for Kids

A Short History from 1900 to the Present

From sandpits to adventure playgrounds, urban play spaces have – throughout their evolution – taken many different forms. What has been the role of play in public space, both historically and in the present? Complementing BAUBAU, our free play space for kids, Gabriela Burkhalter’s Playing in the City presentation traces the history of playgrounds since their emergence in 1900 to today. The free presentation is open to all and can be seen in two rooms next to the play space’s entrance.

Playing in the City &nbsp;

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Located in the centre of Berlin, the Gropius Bau is a lively place to encounter art and each other. The internationally renowned institution stages large-scale exhibitions and performances by contemporary artists.

Ab 4. September

Festivals & Programme Series

Forty years after the Auschwitz trial (“Trial against Mulka and others”, December 20, 1963, to August 20, 1965) the Fritz Bauer Institute recalls this important turning point in the post-war history of the Federal Republic of Germany by means of an exhibition entitled “The Auschwitz Trial 4 Ks 2/63 Frankfurt am Main”. After its presentation at the historical site of Frankfurt am Main (28 March to 23 May 2004), the first station of this travelling exhibition, thanks to the generous support of the cooperation partners, will be the Martin-Gropius-Bau, starting on October 26, 2004.
After years of silence about the crimes of the National-Socialist past, the attention of the West German and international public was drawn to the trial of 21 members of the SS from Auschwitz and a so-called operative prisoner, or “kapo”, which took place in Frankfurt am Main. Inconspicuous citizens, all of them heads of families, aged between 42 and 68 years, were accused of murder, the murder of hundreds of prisoners. 211 survivors of Auschwitz gave evidence. For a period of 20 months the German public was confronted with the crimes of the past. Hessian Attorney General Fritz Bauer called upon the young republic to hold “the Day of Judgement against ourselves”. The Auschwitz trial was to be the beginning.
The exhibition documents the biggest jury trial in the annals of West German justice up to that time. The tape recordings of the trial form the centre of the exhibition. The principal themes of the exhibition are the historical background of the proceedings, the reconstruction of the sensational happenings of the trial itself, as well as the history of the influence it had on literature, philosophy, journalism and theatre. In “Rooms of the Present” contemporary artists convey their perspective of the trial at that time. Their works carry on the history of the trial’s reception, as it were.
<h3>Documentation and Historical Background</h3>
Documents, photographs, film excerpts as well as selections from the extensive press coverage of the trial illustrate the historical event. The original tape recordings of the trial – more than 400 hours were recorded – take the visitor back to the trial courtroom itself. The voices of the accused, the victims, the judges and the prosecutors can be heard for the first time.
A chronicle of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” leads into the exhibition. After passing through the History of the Legal Prosecution of the Nazi crimes after 1945, the Nuremberg trials (against the elite members of the National-Socialist regime before an International Tribunal), Warsaw (against Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz), Jerusalem (against the deportation specialist Adolf Eichmann) and the so-called Ulm Einsatzgruppen trial (against members of the mobile task force A), the visitor arrives at the Pre-History of the Auschwitz trial. At the end of the 1950s the prosecution of Nazi crimes had virtually come to a standstill. Chance happenings and the indefatigable commitment of a few persons such as Attorney General Fritz Bauer and Auschwitz survivor Hermann Langbein got the investigations of the complex of questions surrounding Auschwitz moving.
The Trial Proceedings, presented through the example of six of the accused, form the focal point of the exhibition. The hearings examined the individual participation in the mass murder in the Auschwitz extermination camp. Some of the defendants were also accused of extremely cruel individual murders. The most important evidence is provided by 211 survivors from 18 different countries who take the stand. The atmosphere of the trial is graphically revealed to the visitor: it is marked by the stereotyped denial of the defendants, in sharp contrast to the statements of the victims in the witness box. For they give their testimony on the outrageous crimes based on the gruelling personal experiences they suffered. Never before had the eyes of the world been so clearly opened to such a comprehensive picture of the Nazi persecution of the Jews.
The question of the limits of German criminal law in the face of mass murder is raised here with regard to the judgements pronounced, which differentiated between perpetration of a crime and aiding and abetting of the crime. This question remains open for the visitor. Although criminal proceedings can only be instituted with respect to the individual guilt of the defendants, the trial gained great importance above all as a lesson for West German society. For in this trial the historical truth of the Auschwitz extermination camp was established before a German court for the first time, and the German public was confronted with the voices of the survivors of the Nazi crimes. Since the Auschwitz trial the past has moved a bit nearer.
<h3>History of the Reception</h3>
The even today still largely unexplored history of the reception of the trial in literature, philosophy, journalism and theatre is a further focus of the exhibition. It investigates the intellectual preoccupation with the trial. The Auschwitz trial was intensely registered above all in the area of literature. The proceedings represent a decisive turning point in the literary exploration of the phenomenon of Auschwitz.
The Auschwitz extermination camp was to be written into the collective memory. Characteristic is the demand made by trial reporter Gerhard Mauz: “Literature to the front at the Auschwitz trial”. Among the many who dared to go to the frontlines were H.G. Adler, Heimrad Bäcker, Horst Bienek, Reinhard Döhl, Peter Edel, Günther Grass, Marie Luise Kaschnitz, Horst Krüger and Robert Neumann. Unforgotten and controversial is Martin Walser’s essay “Our Auschwitz”. An entire room is devoted to the genesis and controversial discussions in East and West Germany surrounding the performances of Peter Weiss’ play “Die Ermittlung” (“The Investigation”).
The Auschwitz trial also left its mark on philosophical discourse. It is no accident that the very people who discussed the question of guilt shortly after the war were the first to speak out about the trial. One element of the discussion was the analytical examination of the perpetrators. What kind of people were they, under what conditions do people turn into mass murderers? In this section Theodor W. Adorno, Günther Anders, Hannah Arendt, Karl Jaspers and Dolf Sternberger are introduced.
The pubic discourse was first exercised neither by men of literature nor by philosophers, but rather by journalists. The print press and the radio reported on the details of the trial throughout the 183 days of the proceedings. Throngs of journalists made their way to the trial, and some of the editors sent permanent correspondents. The exhibition portrays the journalists Axel Eggebrecht, Elisabeth Freundlich, Rudolf Hirsch, Bernd Naumann and Peter Jochen Winters.
<h3>Contemporary Art</h3>
Hannah Arendt’s call to get the story of Auschwitz moving in scientific and literary form is understood in the exhibition as a duty to renew the artistic confrontation with this most singular crime.
Traditional painting and sculpture was deliberately left out of this effort; instead, photography, film, video, interactive installations and architectural interventions are represented. The artists accompany visitors through the various thematic areas. The majority of new works appearing in the exhibition were commissioned by the Fritz Bauer Institute.
The artists invited to participate are: Loris Cecchini, Claus Föttinger, Robert Kusmirowski, Bojan Sarcevic, Wilhelm Sasnal, Silvia Schreiber, Joachim Seinfeld and Gitte Villesen.

Auschwitz-Prozeß 4 Ks 2/63

The Auschwitz Trial 4 Ks 2/63

2004

Programm

Programme

Upcoming

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.

Berliner Festspiele

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furtherInformation

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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

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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

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In June 2026, Sasha Waltz &amp; Guests will be performing the productions Beethoven&nbsp;7 and In&nbsp;C at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Sasha Waltz &amp; Guests will also be staging a special evening to celebrate the 75th&nbsp;anniversary of the Goethe-Institut.

Sasha Waltz &amp; Guests

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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.

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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

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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.