Organizer: Martin-Gropius-BauOn the occasion of the exhibition Side by Side Poland – Germany. A 1000 Years of Art and History

Gropius Bau

Gropius Bau 2023

Gropius Bau, Kino (Untergeschoss)

Gropius Bau, Cinema (Lower ground floor)

‚Tür an Tür‘ oder gemeinsamer Raum? Fragen an die Geschichte der deutsch-polnischen Beziehungen

‘T&uuml;r an T&uuml;r’ oder gemeinsamer Raum? Fragen an die Geschichte der deutsch-polnischen Beziehungen

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Reflexe und Reflexionen

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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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The Gropius Bau is closed on Tuesdays.

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Gropius Bau 2025

Events

Exhibitions & Projects

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Tanz im August, presented by HAU Hebbel am Ufer, is a festival of contemporary dance in Berlin. With three productions, it will once again be a guest at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele this year. The pre-sale of some programme highlights has already started.

Tanz im August

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Eight selected concert highlights of Musikfest Berlin 2025 have already been published and are on sale. These include guest performances by the world’s best symphony orchestras and choirs from the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Italy, which are rarely heard in Berlin.

Musikfest Berlin

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The international literature festival berlin, or ilb for short, is considered one of the most important literary festivals in the world. The programme for the 25th&nbsp;ilb will take place from 11 to 20&nbsp;September 2025. The Young Programme will run from 15 to 24&nbsp;September 2025. The main venue is the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, with additional locations for the Young Programme including Theater an der Parkaue and the Gelbe Villa.

25th international literature festival berlin

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This year, 53&nbsp;ensembles from all over Germany applied for the Tanztreffen der Jugend. 8&nbsp;young ensembles between contemporary and urban dance were chosen by the jury for the final selection. They will show their work at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele in autumn.

Tanztreffen der Jugend

More Berliner Festspiele

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The international literature festival berlin, or ilb for short, is considered one of the most important literary festivals in the world. The programme for the 25th&nbsp;ilb will take place from 11 to 20&nbsp;September 2025. The Young Programme will run from 15 to 20 September 2025. The main venue is the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, with additional locations for the Young Programme including Theater an der Parkaue and the Gelbe Villa.

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The Performing Arts Season once again brings renowned international dance, theatre and performance productions to the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and the Gropius Bau. In this edition, the series focuses primarily on various concepts of identity.

Performing Arts Season

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YOKO ONO: MUSIC OF THE MIND

Since the 1950s, Yoko Ono has been ahead of her time, leaving her mark on visual arts, music and activism. To honour her groundbreaking work, Gropius Bau presents the comprehensive solo exhibition&nbsp;YOKO ONO: MUSIC OF THE MIND. Spanning the first floor and the atrium of Gropius Bau, the show brings together over 200 works from seven decades, revealing her radical approach to language, art and participation that continues to speak to the present moment.

YOKO ONO: MUSIC OF THE MIND

Key Visual Neu

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 oeuvre, punk meets glamour, queer activism meets Black counter-culture and resistance meets desire.&nbsp;Fabelhaftes Produkt&nbsp;offers&nbsp;an overview of Davis’ practice and artistic collaborations.

Vaginal DavisFabelhaftes Produkt

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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.

BAUBAU

Spielen in der Stadt

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&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 the play space’s entrance.

Playing in the City

Currently at Gropius Bau

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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 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.

Diane Arbus: Konstellationen

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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…

Preview Autumn 2025

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 oeuvre, punk meets glamour, queer activism meets Black counter-culture and resistance meets desire.&nbsp;Vaginal Davis: Fabelhaftes Produkt&nbsp;offers&nbsp;an overview of Davis’ practice and artistic collaborations.

Vaginal Davis: Fabelhaftes Produkt

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With CHEAP, Larry, Evita Manji, New Noveta, otay:onii and Keioui Keijaun Thomas

Sp&auml;tschicht x Creamcake

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The Practice – What Moves Artists

The Practice – What Moves Artists&nbsp;is a new 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

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. Its diverse events focus on exchange and discussion, bringing together local and global perspectives.&nbsp;

About the Gropius Bau

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!

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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.

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Festivals & Programme Series

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Exhibitions 2011

The Royal Castle in Warsaw and Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin are jointly developing the exhibition entitled “Side by Side. Poland – Germany. A 1000 Years of Art and History” which will be on view in Berlin from September 23, 2011 to January 9, 2012.
The exhibition is being shown as&nbsp; part of the International Cultural Programme of the Polish EU Presidency 2011.
The project outline has been supervised by an scientific board headed by Professor Władysław Bartoszewski. The exhibition curator is the Polish art historian Anda Rottenberg, known for a number of internationally acclaimed exhibitions and long-serving director of Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw.
Poland and Germany look back on over 1000 years of shared history. The complex nature of the history of the two neighbours has above all been shaped by major political developments and events, which have removed from the horizon areas of cultural common ground in such fields as culture, religion, language and economy.
Both German and Polish cultural memory is often shaped by emotion and prejudice. Nonetheless, there seems to be a consensus on both sides of the River Oder that a new process of understanding, which begun over 20 years ago, has been forming a basis of a lasting friendship. Polish presidency of the European Union is a unique opportunity to strengthen this vital dialogue through an exhibition in the German capital. This will be the very first time that the 1000 years of Polish-German history in all its manifestations is depicted in a major exhibition.
Approximately 700 historical and contemporary exhibits – with some 250 paintings, 30 sculptures, 60 incunabula, 80 manuscripts and 60 prints – will be shown in 19 rooms of the gallery’s ground floor with a total area of 3,200 square metres. Apart from traditional works of art the exhibition includes over 60 documents, 100 craft objects, 150 photographs, film material and books as well as examples of music including compositions by Arnold Schönberg, J.F. Telemann, J.S. Bach and the others. The exhibits from numerous Polish, German and international museums and collections are witness of the culture in Poland and Germany. The list of lenders includes the National Museum in Warsaw, the Łódź Museum of Art, the Victoria &amp; Albert Museum in London and the Vatican Library.
Among the special highlights is the presentation of Jan Matejko’s monumental work the ‘Prussian Homage’ on loan from the National Museum in Kraków. Contemporary artists have also ventured a look into the future with works that were especially commissioned by the Martin-Gropius-Bau.
A comprehensive education programme addressed to school children and students is designed to advance cultural exchange between Poland and Germany. The programme that provides information is aimed to contribute to the further integration of Europe and mutual understanding.
Catalogue 
 A German-Polish catalogue on the exhibition “Side by Side. Poland – Germany. A 1000 Years of Art and History” is being edited by the Polish art historian Prof. Małgorzata Omilanowska and published by DuMont-Verlag. The c. 780-page, richly illustrated catalogue contains essays by renowned experts from Germany and Poland as well as guest authors from other countries. 
 Published by DuMont Verlag, 700 pages 
 Trade edition: € 39.95 
 Museum edition: € 22.00 
 German edition: ISBN: 978-3-8321-9399-7 
 Polish edition: ISBN 978-3-8321-9400-0

Tür an Tür

Side by Side

Veranstaltungen Ai Weiwei in New York

‘Tür an Tür’ oder gemeinsamer Raum? Fragen an die Geschichte der deutsch-polnischen Beziehungen

2011

Programm

Programme

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.

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Today’s Events

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37th&nbsp;International Festival Berlin

Tanz im August

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The international literature festival berlin, or ilb for short, is considered one of the most important literary festivals in the world.

25th international literature festival berlin

Leichte Sprache

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furtherInformation

You can listen to some of our events this year digitally in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library after the live concerts.&nbsp;In addition, On Demand offers from past years are available.

Musikfest Berlin in the Media Library

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The international Jazzfest Research Lab&nbsp;welcomes academics and students to take a critical look at the festival’s archive, its programmes, creators, musicians and – last but not least – its myths. In two seminars during the summer semester of 2024, students from the Berlin University of the Arts and the University of Hildesheim have explored the festival’s history from various perspectives. In this film, the participants give a first look at how they dealt with their research subject.

Introducing: Jazzfest Research Lab

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To mark its 60th anniversary, Jazzfest Berlin is celebrating the cultural diversity of the neighbouring district of Moabit in collaboration with around 35 official partners and initiatives and with over 350 participants of all ages.&nbsp;In June 2024, interviews were conducted with 20 partners who presented their perspectives, wishes and ideas for the Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit. You can get a first impression with this film.

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Curated by&nbsp;Meron Mendel and Saba-Nur Cheema&nbsp;

From 13 to 16 June 2024, the interdisciplinary themed days “Reflexes &amp; Reflections” on the Israel-Palestine conflict and its consequences for society in Germany took place at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. You can now find video and audio recordings of the discourse events in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library!

Reflexes &amp; Reflections. 7 October, the war in Gaza and the debate in Germany

In the Media Library

Key Visual Musikfest Berlin 2025

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Major Orchestras and Vocal Ensembles as Guests in Berlin

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The 10 Remarkable Productions 2024

On 26 January, the Theatertreffen’s jury of critics announced their selection of 10 remarkable productions for the 2024 Theatertreffen at a press conference. Our congratulations go to the nominated production teams and all participants! The programme will be published on 5 April.

Theatertreffen 2024

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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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53&nbsp;ensembles from 13&nbsp;federal states have submitted their works for the 12th&nbsp;Tanztreffen der Jugend.&nbsp;The selection has been made.

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The works presented in the Performing Arts Season 2025/26 go beyond simple portrayals of identity, embracing its precarity and fluid, multifaceted and often contradictory nature. Through an exploration of connections and differences, they underscore not what divides us, but what unites us, both individually and collectively.&nbsp;The programme is online and Tickets are on sale now.

Upcoming