At this year’s Gallery Weekend, new ways of seeing abound — not only at neugerriemschneider, where the gallery presents works by Olafur Eliasson, an artist it has collaborated with for over 30 years. Eliasson continues to explore the relativity of perception through new works on view at the gallery’s Christenstrasse location, using large optical filters typically affixed to camera lenses to polarize light in colorful interplay.
Image above: Olafur Eliasson, The lure of looking through a polarised window of opportunities, or seeing a surprise before it’s reduced, split, and then further reduced, installation view, 2025. Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin. Photo: Jens Ziehe.
At its Linienstrasse gallery, neugerriemschneider also features works by Thomas Bayrle, including a new series of paintings, a film, and collages from the 1980s and 1990s. Inspired by morphology and metamorphosis, Bayrle reimagines images of modern technology and urban culture as floral still-lifes.
Photographic perspectives hold a strong presence during Gallery Weekend. Konrad Fischer Galerie presents an exhibition of Bernd and Hilla Becher, offering a focused look at residential buildings in the Ruhr region — a departure from the couple’s well-known black-and-white industrial photography. As longtime professors at the Düsseldorf academy, the Bechers influenced a generation of photographers, including Thomas Struth, whose exhibition at Galerie Max Hetzler on Potsdamer Strasse surveys his four-decade artistic career.
While Düsseldorf-born Wim Wenders is widely known for his films, Galerie BASTIAN dedicates a Gallery Weekend exhibition to his recent photographic work, which captures forests and expansive Chinese landscapes. Meanwhile, Sweetwater showcases Los Angeles-based photographer Megan Plunkett, whose interest in UFOs and their elusive nature serves as a lens through which she interrogates existence, reality, and objecthood.
At Galerie Nagel Draxler, the gallery presents work by American conceptual artist and feminist Martha Rosler in its ‘Kabinett’ space. Her photo series Rights of Passage (1983–1993), composed of snapshots taken during commutes between Brooklyn and New Jersey, captures scenes of urban chaos. Adjacent to this, the gallery hosts an immersive installation by Nadya Tolokonnikova, reflecting on her incarceration in Russian penal colonies from 2012 to 2013. A founding member of the feminist collective Pussy Riot, Tolokonnikova was imprisoned following her Punk Prayer performance in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Nearby, BQ features the work of “The Brotherhood of New Blockheads,” a St. Petersburg collective that carried out over 100 performances between 1996 and 2002, now being shown in Germany for the first time.
NOME debuts its first solo exhibition of artist and archivist Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, UNCENSORED. Best known for interactive video games addressing transphobia and racism through narratives of Black trans lives, Brathwaite-Shirley’s exhibition also includes paintings and drawings. These diaristic works are foundational to her video pieces, and, according to the artist, are successful when they provoke viewer unease — prompting reflection on personal and collective perspectives.
Klaudia Schifferle, a painter, sculptor, and musician, is the focus of a solo exhibition at Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler titled Play The Red Line. A founding member of Kleenex (later LiLiPUT), Switzerland’s first all-female punk band, Schifferle draws from post-punk, new wave, and indie feminist scenes. Her practice spans media and styles but remains anchored in the expression of emotional states.
From Friday, May 2 through Sunday, May 4, the Neue Nationalgalerie will host the Gallery Weekend Art Talks. These public and free events include four talks and panel discussions daily, featuring conversations with artists about their practices and exhibitions, as well as broader dialogues with curators, patrons, and experts on the role and future of art engagement. Speakers include Thomas Struth, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, and Sun Yitan (Esther Schipper). The full Gallery Weekend Talks 2025 program will be released later this week.
German-speaking art lovers can tune into the latest episode of Gallery Weekend Berlin — The Art Podcast. Following past episodes featuring Marianna Simnett (Société) and Monica Bonvicini (Capitain Petzel), the newest installment features artist Zuzanna Czebatul, whose exhibition at Dittrich & Schlechtriem offers a conceptual take on the Pergamon Altar.
Next week’s episode will spotlight New York-based artist Melissa Joseph, whose felted tableaux exploring memory and family history are currently on view at Soy Capitán.
For those planning their visit, the Gallery Weekend Journal offers curated tours written by art critics, providing an overview of Berlin’s gallery districts. Guided tours can also be booked in the Art Walks section. Additional resources on the website include detailed gallery profiles and studio visit photo essays by photographer Diana Pfammatter.
A preview of Gallery Weekend is already on display at KaDeWe, where the store’s windows have been transformed into showcases for contemporary art. Curated by Sebastian Hoffmann, the 24/7 exhibition features kinetic and site-specific installations by ten artists: Saâdane Afif, Alexandra Bircken, Isabella Ducrot, Benjamin Heisenberg, Christian Jankowski, Wilhelm Klotzek, John Miller, Josefine Reisch, Pamela Rosenkranz, and Karin Sander.
Participating Galleries and Artists:
Galerie BASTIAN, Wim Wenders / Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Hinako Miyabayashi / BQ, „The Brotherhood of New Blockheads (1996-2002)“, curated by Daniel Baumann / Galerie Buchholz, Anne Imhof / Buchmann Galerie, Tony Cragg / Capitain Petzel, Monica Bonvicini / carlier I gebauer, Leonor Serrano Rivas; Surrounding You: Part II, group show; Nicole Miller / ChertLüdde, Álvaro Urbano; Patrizio di Massimo / Mehdi Chouakri Berlin, Angela Bulloch; Sylvie Fleury; Charlotte Posenenske / Contemporary Fine Arts, Tobias Spichtig / CRONE, Anthony Goicolea / DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM, Zuzanna Czebatul / EBENSPERGER, Bonnie Camplin & Beatrice Brown; Julius Deutschbauer; Ludwig Schönherr / Galerie EIGEN + ART, Cihan Çakmak; Nicola Samorì / Konrad Fischer Galerie, Bernd & Hilla Becher / Galerie Lars Friedrich, Sydney Schrader / Galerie Friese, Dieter Krieg / Galerie Michael Haas, Arnulf Rainer / Heidi, Benjamin Lallier / Galerie Max Hetzler, Leilah Babirye; Sergey Kononov; Thomas Struth / Hua International, Tirdad Hashemi, Soufia Erfanian, Mahsa Saloor / Galerie Judin, BOMBOIS by Anholt / KLEMM’S, Leelee Chan / Galerie Noah Klink, Sebastian Jefford / KOW, Hudinilson Jr. / Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Klaudia Schifferle / alexander levy, Noémie Goudal / LEVY Galerie, Daniel Spoerri / Meyer Riegger, Horst Antes / Galerie Molitor, Diane Severin Nguyen / Nagel Draxler, Martha Rosler; Nadya Tolokonnikova / Galerie Neu, SoiL Thornton / neugerriemschneider, Thomas Bayrle; Olafur Eliasson; advective motion, nebulous currents (group show) / NOME, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley / Galerie Nordenhake, Spencer Finch / Pace | Galerie Judin, Reverse Alchemy: Dubuffet, Basquiat, Nava (group show); Tom of Finland / Galeria Plan B, Serban Savu / PSM, Almut Linde / Schiefe Zähne, Phung-Tien Phan / Esther Schipper, Sun Yitian; Merikokeb Berhanu / Galerie Thomas Schulte, Marina Adams; Lena Henke; Jonas Weichsel / Société, Marianna Simnett, What are you looking for?, group show / Soy Capitán, Melissa Joseph / Sprüth Magers, Cyprien Gaillard; Michail Pirgelis / Sweetwater, Megan Plunkett / Galerie Barbara Thumm, Roméo Mivekannin / Galerie Tanja Wagner, Šejla Kamerić / Trautwein Herleth, Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo) / WENTRUP, Desire Moheb-Zandi / Galerie Michael Werner, Frank Auerbach / Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, Figuration, group show / Barbara Wien, Jimmie Durham
WHEN?
Friday, 2. May until Sunday, 4. May 2025
WHERE?
Throughout Berlin
COST?
Free entry
