through the exhibition <a href="content_link_text;type=kbb_festspiele.auffuehrungauswahl;gid=52216fb3-21f8-41a6-9244-42a221e67500">Gurlitt: Status Report</a>

Die Mittagszeit mit Kunst genie&szlig;en oder den Arbeitsalltag mit einem Ausstellungsbesuch unterbrechen: Unsere Lunchf&uuml;hrungen bieten am ersten Mittwoch des Monats die Gelegenheit, in einer gef&uuml;hrten Tour die aktuelle Ausstellung zu erleben.

Gropius Bau

Gropius Bau 2023

Lunchführung

Lunchf&uuml;hrung (German)

Gropius Bau linksbündig_neu

cookieConsent

Berliner Festspiele 75

appFooterBfsLogo

Jazzfest Berlin linksbündig_neu

appFooterFestivals0

MaerzMusik linksbündig_neu

appFooterFestivals1

Musikfest Berlin linksbündig_neu

appFooterFestivals2

Performing Arts Season_neu

appFooterFestivals3

Reflexe und Reflexionen

appFooterFestivals4

Theatertreffen linksbündig_neu

appFooterFestivals5

Treffen junge Szene linksbündig_neu

appFooterFestivals6

appFooterLinks0

appFooterLinks1

appFooterLinks2

appFooterLinks3

appFooterLinks4

appFooterLinks5

appFooterLinks6

appFooterLinks7

appFooterLinks8

appFooterLinks9

appFooterLinks10

appFooterSocials0

appFooterSocials1

appFooterSocials2

BKM-Logo englisch

appFooterSponsors0

appHeaderButtons0

appHeaderMenuFestivals0

links0

links1

appHeaderMenuGroups0

links2

links3

links4

links5

appHeaderMenuGroups1

appHeaderMenuGroups2

appHeaderMenuGroups3

appHeaderMenuLinks0

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.

Fallback-Bild Gropius Bau

gropius-bau-config

There are currently no exhibitions on view at Gropius Bau.

Closed

ctas0

ctas1

Gropius Bau 2026

Events

Exhibitions & Projects

todayButton

program

ctas

smartInfo

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

Sign Up for Our Newsletter!

visibility

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

gb26_marina_abramovic_massaging_breasts_2_zu_1

Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition

Marina Abramović

gb26_spaetschicht_co_2zu1

0110

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

Sp&auml;tschicht x C/O Berlin

01117

teasers

ctaButton

Fallback-Bild Musikfest Berlin

teasers0

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

bfs26_jubiläum_plakat_stoetzer_ausschnitt1

teasers1

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

Fallback-Bild Theatertreffen

teasers2

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

Theatertreffen

More Berliner Festspiele

01118

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.

gb26_thepractice_marinaabramovic_web_3x2_1

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

gropiusbau_spaetschicht_juni--8-von-40-.jpg

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

OnDangerousGroundVaginalDavisMockup

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

gb25_diane_arbus_lady_bartender_at_home_with_a_souvenir dog_new_orleans_la_1964

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

GB25_Lewis_A Plot, A Scandal_quadratisch

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...

gb24_braetsch_baubau_quadratisch

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

gb25_burkhalter_spielen_in_der_stadt_quadratisch.jpg

teasers3

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

gb26_hujar_david_wojnarowicz_with_hand_touching_eye_.png

Peter Hujar / Liz Deschenes: Persistence of Vision

gb24_braetsch_baubau_teaser

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

gb26_abramovic_massaging_breasts_3zu2_2.jpg

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

gb26_spaetschicht_engel_co-berlin

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;

main

gb24_braetsch_pop_up_3

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

News that the Bavarian Public Prosecutor&rsquo;s office had seized the art collection of Cornelius Gurlitt (1932&ndash;2014), caused a national and international sensation when it was made public in November 2013. The 1500 works the reclusive son of the art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt (1895&ndash;1956) had inherited from his father raised suspicions: had they been looted by the Nazis before and during the Second World War?

To investigate these suspicions and to study the cache, the German government provided funding to establish an international team of experts, the Schwabing Art Trove Taskforce. Cornelius Gurlitt agreed to restitute any work identified as expropriated unlawfully. Thus far, four such works have been returned to the heirs of their rightful owners.

In the exhibition at the Gropius Bau, the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn and the Kunstmuseum Bern presented some 200 works from the Gurlitt estate and a wide range of original documents and historical photographs. The exhibition traced the twists and turns of Hildebrand Gurlitt&rsquo;s career: from passionate champion of Modernism to participant in and beneficiary of the Aktion Entartete Kunst and, finally,&nbsp;&ndash; despite a Jewish grandmother &ndash; to head buyer for Hitler&rsquo;s planned F&uuml;hrer Museum in Linz.

That notwithstanding, after the end of the war, he was able to resume his pre-war career as museum director without too much trouble. Complementing Gurlitt&rsquo;s ambiguous biography, the exhibition shed light on the lives of some of his contemporaries, focusing on the fate of Jewish artists, collectors and art dealers who fell victim to the Nazi regime.

Spanning a wide range of eras and styles &ndash; from D&uuml;rer to Monet and from Cranach to Kirchner and Rodin &ndash; the exhibition presented works that have been hidden from public view for decades and provided an insight into the current state of the investigation of the Gurlitt trove. By tracing the provenance of each of the works on show, the exhibition also shed light on the complex history of the individual objects. Many of them were seized as &lsquo;degenerate&rsquo; from German museums in 1937, others may have been unlawfully expropriated from their owners. For a great number of works, the provenance is likely to remain unclear because conclusive documents are lost or because the dealers involved made sure to cover their tracks.

Catalogue 
The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue published by Hirmer Verlag Verlag and edited by Kunstmuseum Bern and Kunst&shy; und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland GmbH. With contributions from Lukas B&auml;cher, Andrea Bambi, Andrea Baresel-Brand, Matthias Frehner, Johannes Gramlich, Anja Heu&szlig;, Meike Hoffmann, Stefan Koldehoff, Georg Kreis, Marcus Leifeld, Agnieszka Lulinska, Nathalie Neumann, Britta Ol&eacute;nyi von Husen, Linda Philipp-Hacka, Birgit Schwarz, Yehudit Shendar and Shlomit Steinberg.

Bestandsaufnahme Gurlitt 
Museumspreis &euro; 29,90 
Buchhandelspreis &euro; 29,90 
German Edition ISBN 978&shy;3&shy;7774&shy;3137&shy;6 
English Edition ISBN 978&shy;3&shy;7774&shy;2963&shy;2

Bestandsaufnahme Gurlitt

Gurlitt: Status Report

Lunchführung (German)

Veranstaltungen

Ausstellungen 2018

Ausstellungen

2018

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

Berliner Festspiele linksbündig_neu

Fallback-Bild Berliner Festspiele

In accordance with the ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC), you must consent to the use and storage of cookies when you visit our website. In addition to the strictly necessary, functional cookies, we recommend that you also activate further cookies in order to be able to use all the functions on our website.Strictly necessary These cookies ensure the website‘s technical stability.Third party For some of our content we use offers from third parties such as Vimeo. If you want to use these functions, we recommend that you activate these cookies.

furtherInformation

Theatertreffen-Blog Header

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

0111

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

011114

slides

bfs26_in_c_sasha_waltz_c_yanina-isla_3.jpg

slides0

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

slides1

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.

Fallback-Bild Performing Arts Season

slides2

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

011115

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.