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Gropius Bau

Gropius Bau 2017

Lunchführungen zur Ausstellung „Lucian Freud: Closer“

Guided lunch tours through the exhibition “Lucian Freud: Closer”

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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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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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Our 2026 programme preview is now online! We look forward to exhibitions by Marina Abramović, Peter Hujar, Christoph Schlingensief, Gabriele St&ouml;tzer and many other artists who cast an uncompromising gaze on society.

Programme 2026

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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 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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Performers and life-sized dolls – living creatures and inanimate objects – come together in Gisèle Vienne’s and Étienne Bideau-Rey’s dance-theatre performance. The choreography in slow motion – composed in dialogue with original music by Peter Rehberg – is diffracting time and thus enabling usually unseen parts of experiences to be seen.

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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

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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

More Berliner Festspiele

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Performances and More – Free Admission

Sp&auml;tschicht x Leila Hekmat

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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 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

With Arthur Chruszcz, Monique Fei, Forecast (Hussein Chalayan, Bethan Hughes, Kihako Narisawa, James Richards and Hochschule f&uuml;r Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin), James Main, Roman Ole, Shade Théret

For the December edition of our event series Sp&auml;tschicht, we invite you to join us and artist Leila Hekmat for a live programme featuring free performances, an installation, a screening and a talk.

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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A Vibrant Place for Enganging with Art and Each Other

Located in the centre of Berlin, Gropius Bau is an internationally renowned institution that stages large-scale exhibitions and performances by contemporary artists. Its diverse events focus on exchange and discussion, bringing together local and global perspectives.

About Gropius Bau

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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

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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

Lucian Freud (1922&ndash;2011) is one of Great Britain&rsquo;s most important painters. His figurative works are among the masterpieces of the 20th century. His fame is owed mainly to his portraits of people and animals, which he observed in an almost scientifically precise manner and then captured on canvas or paper.

The oil painting &ldquo;Double Portrait&rdquo;, created in 1988&ndash;89, serves to illustrate very clearly Freud&rsquo;s artistic progression from painting to etching. He works slowly and, depending on size and other variables, it takes three to eighteen months to finish an artwork. The etching &ldquo;Pluto&rdquo; is also from 1988. In pastose hues, the double portrait depicts his hound Pluto and one of his favourite models, Susanna Chancellor, lying next to each other in a close and intimate pose; the black-and-white etching portrays a similar scene. But here, the artist zooms in on the whippet, while only a few inches of Susanna&#39;s body are visible. Freud focuses completely on the resting animal. One could assume this to be a study for the painting. But that would be too simplistic a view. Not only have his paintings and his graphic works coexisted as equals since the 1980s, but in his etchings Freud hazards a closer approximation to his model, which represents a further artistic challenge. &ldquo;It is possible,&rdquo; Freud once said, &ldquo;that through one&#39;s work, one acquires such a degree of knowledge and skill that one becomes entirely carefree, while the things I want to do are truly exhausting.&rdquo; Besides a few exceptions, Freud did not start doing etchings until his later work.

His graphic oeuvre is rich in detail and very precise. He focuses completely on his model. Seating furniture or upholstery is not included. Instead of the brushstroke and paint, Freud develops a system of lines: fine, elongated parallel lines repeated several times to depict round shapes and curves; wide, etched lines to clarify monumental size and powerfulness; and wild cross-hatching for plastic corporeality. The lines are etched onto copper plates, deepened using acid, filled with ink and printed on paper. The image is always laterally reversed and is only displayed in the intended way once printed on paper. The ridges and scratches make corrections virtually impossible.

Lucian Freud&rsquo;s head portraits of his mother, who was one of his most important models until her death in 1989, are masterful, just like the portraits of the Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery &ndash; on display here are &ldquo;Head of a Man&rdquo; (1992), &ldquo;Large Head&rdquo; (1993) and &ldquo;Reclining Figure&rdquo; (1994). Freud met Bowery in the 1990s and portrayed him many times in paintings, sketches and etchings until he died of AIDS in 1994. Bowery&rsquo;s physical brawniness was fascinating to him. He also introduced Lucian Freud to Sue Tilley, likewise a model with an unusual physicality. One masterpiece is the etching &ldquo;Large Sue&rdquo; (1995). Like many of Freud&rsquo;s etchings, it is exceptionally large, measuring 82.5 x 67.3 cm. The piece shows Sue Tilley sleeping, lost to the world and carefree, her face crumpled, naked and, despite the ampleness of her body, she almost seems to be floating. It is an image of Venus. It is reminiscent of the famous Palaeolithic &ldquo;Venus of Willendorf&rdquo; figurine. In the etching &ldquo;Woman with Arm Tattoo&rdquo; (1996) she is also shown as a head portrait in a similar pose. Here, the artist includes her tattoo. Tilley inspires him to do further nudes, which fetch record sums at auctions when Freud is still alive.

Freud&rsquo;s etchings have all the qualities that also distinguish his paintings: reclining bodies, the folds of textiles or skin, bulging flesh, curves, traces of life. Freud likes to point out that really, he is a biologist. He portrays all living things &ndash; plants, animals and, above all, nude men and women &ndash; in situations of great vivacity.

Lucian Freud is born on 8 December 1922 in Berlin as the son of architect Ernst Ludwig Freud and Lucie Freud, n&eacute;e Brasch. When the National Socialists take over in 1933, his family is forced to flee to England. His grandfather Sigmund Freud follows in 1938. He documents their emigration artistically in the 1940s. In 1939 Lucian Freud becomes a British citizen. From 1939 to 1943 he attends the Central School of Art (now called Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design) as well as the Goldsmith&acute;s College in London and the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Dedham, Essex, which is run by painters Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines. Cedric Morris is a great role model of Freud&rsquo;s.

Freud&rsquo;s models are exclusively people that he knows and who arouse his curiosity. He almost always works in his studio; among the few exceptions is his portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. (2001). &ldquo;My work is purely autobiographical,&rdquo; says Freud in an interview on the occasion of his first solo exhibition in 1974 at the Art Council, today&rsquo;s Hayward Gallery, in London. &ldquo;It is about me and my surroundings. It is an attempt at a record. I work from people that interest me and that I care about and think about, in rooms that I live in and know. &ldquo;When asked what he expects of a work of art, Freud once replied: &ldquo;I ask it to astonish, disturb, seduce, convince.&rdquo; Or, to respond with the French author Emile Zola (1840&ndash;1902): a work of art is &ldquo;a corner of nature seen through a temperament&rdquo;.

His paintings are examples of intensive analytical observation. At the same time, they are moving studies of transience. They are unadorned. Every wrinkle, every scar, all the irregularities of the skin and traces of life are captured. As part of the exhibition,&nbsp;Lucian Freud: Closer, 51 of his etchings were shown in Berlin, the city of his birth, for the first time. They are accompanied by one watercolour and two paintings, among them the masterpiece &ldquo;Double Portrait&rdquo;. They were on loan from the UBS Art Collection, one of the most internationally renowned corporate collections.

Lucian Freud: Closer

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Ausstellungen 2017

Exhibitions

Exhibitions 2017

2017

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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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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

Musikfest Berlin will take place from 28&nbsp;August to 23&nbsp;September 2026 in co-operation with the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation and marks the 75th&nbsp;anniversary of the Berliner Festspiele. Tickets are already available now for ten selected concert highlights at the Philharmonie Berlin. These guest concerts include some of the world’s best symphony orchestras and choirs from Finland, Spain, England, South Africa, the USA, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The complete festival programme will be announced on 21&nbsp;April 2026.

Musikfest Berlin 2026: Tickets for First Concert Highlights Available Now!

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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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Thorsten Lensing

Tanzende Idioten

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Tanzende Idioten

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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

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Advance sales are now live: 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 now 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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A dance collage by John Neumeier for the Federal Youth Ballet, which explores aspects of German expressive dance with music, texts and songs, and commemorates the victims of Nazi rule.

Die Unsichtbaren

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<h3>Theatertreffen</h3><h4>2 to 20 May 2024</h4>The 10&nbsp;remarkable productions, selected by a jury of critics, were announced in a press conference on 26&nbsp;January 2024, 11:00. The programme will be published on 5&nbsp;April, advance ticket sales will start on 19&nbsp;April at 14:00