On the occasion of Berlin Art Week from 10 to 14 September 2025, the Neue Nationalgalerie presents the fourth edition of the performance festival PERFORM!, featuring Joan Jonas, Isaac Chong Wai and Corey Scott-Gilbert | vAL. As a special highlight, on Sunday, 14 September, Yoko Ono’s participatory performance Bells for Peace will take place. Admission to all events is free of charge.
Image above: Joan Jonas, Mirror Piece I, 1969, Loeb Student Center, New York University, New York, 1969 © Joan Jonas/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025, Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone
Continuing its series of performance festivals during Berlin Art Week, the Neue Nationalgalerie presents the fourth edition of PERFORM! with works by Joan Jonas, Isaac Chong Wai and Corey Scott-Gilbert | vAL. A special highlight will be the participatory performance Bells for Peace by Yoko Ono, taking place on Sunday, 14 September 2025, as part of the “Tag im Grünen” program. Admission to all events is free.
As in previous years, a historically pioneering performance provides the starting point for the program: Mirror Piece I & II (1969) by Joan Jonas will be re-staged daily on the terrace of the Neue Nationalgalerie from 10 to 14 September. On Sunday, 14 September, the program continues with Isaac Chong Wai’s The horizon we can never touch and Corey Scott-Gilbert | vAL’s Bellied, before Yoko Ono’s Bells for Peace concludes the festival as the highlight of her celebrated exhibition.
Over the past three years, the Neue Nationalgalerie has already presented the performance festival PERFORM! during Berlin Art Week – starting with historical works by Simone Forti (2022), Yoko Ono (2023) and Yvonne Rainer (2024), complemented by contemporary contributions from artists such as Göksu Kunak, Miles Greenberg, Enad Marouf, Bendik Giske, Dafni Krouzadi, Constantin Hartenstein and Billy Bultheel.
PERFORM! is curated by Klaus Biesenbach (Director of the Neue Nationalgalerie) together with Lisa Botti (Curator at the Neue Nationalgalerie) and Gregor Quack (Volkswagen Group Fellow, FREUNDE der Nationalgalerie). The American Academy in Berlin is a partner of PERFORM! 2025.
PROGRAMME
Joan Jonas: Mirror Piece I & II (1969/2025)
- Wed, 10 September – Sat, 13 September 2025: 5:15–5:45 pm
- Sun, 14 September 2025: 4:15–4:45 pm
- Location: Terrace, Neue Nationalgalerie1
Mirror Piece is a groundbreaking performance created in 1969 by American artist Joan Jonas and regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of feminist and conceptual performance art in the United States. Several performers carry mirrors and Plexiglas panels in synchronised, choreographed movements. The mirrors reflect and fragment the audience, performers and surroundings, blurring the boundaries between stage and viewer.
Movement Director: Nefeli Skarmea.
“The mirror was a metaphor for me. A device to change the image and involve the audience as a reflection, making them uncomfortable as they see themselves in public.” – Joan Jonas
Joan Jonas (*1936, New York) is considered a pioneer of performance and video art. Since the 1960s, she has worked with mirrors, texts and body movement. Her works address identity, gender and perception and have had a lasting impact on contemporary art.
Corey Scott-Gilbert | vAL: Bellied (2025)
- Sun, 14 September 2025, 3–3:30 pm
- Location: Terrace, Neue Nationalgalerie
The newly commissioned work by Corey Scott-Gilbert | vAL gathers fragments of shattered reflections and thoughts and insists on imagining new possibilities with hope. A solo performer, filled with scepticism and critical spirit, moves through empty stands, using pieces of mirror to observe the audience.
Sound and music: Turkana.
Corey Scott-Gilbert (*1983, Washington, D.C.) studied at the Juilliard School and later became a solo dancer at the Lyon Opera Ballet. In 2009 he received the Princess Grace Award and performed at the 84th Academy Awards as well as in shows by Louis Vuitton. After an injury, he developed his artistic identity vAL in Berlin and has collaborated with artists such as Eszter Salamon, Sasha Waltz, Julian Rosenfeldt and Ligia Lewis.
Isaac Chong Wai: The horizon we can never touch (2014)
- Sun, 14 September 2025, 3:30–4 pm
- Location: Terrace, Neue Nationalgalerie
This participatory performance invites performers to stand in front of a window, face the audience and adjust their height so that their heads form a continuous horizontal line. Each participant alternates between being the model and the follower. The work demonstrates how subjective norms and standards are, and how easily they can be shifted. For the Neue Nationalgalerie, the performance will be staged along the 50-metre glass façade of the Mies van der Rohe building.
The horizon we can never touch was previously performed at the Inside-Out Art Museum (Beijing, 2025), Forecast Forum at HKW Berlin (2017), and the Immigration Office Gallery (Bremen, 2015).
Isaac Chong Wai (*1990) lives in Berlin and Hong Kong. His artistic practice spans drawing, glass, photography, video and performance, exploring contemporary global phenomena. His works transform human interactions, tensions and memories into performative materiality and immersive experiences.
Yoko Ono: Bells for Peace (2019/2025)
- Sun, 14 September 2025, 4:45–5:15 pm
- Location: Terrace, Neue Nationalgalerie
Bells for Peace is a participatory performance by Yoko Ono, based on her long-standing practice of involving the audience in collective actions. The work invites participants to ring bells together – as an act of hope, solidarity and a vision for change. It was first performed in Manchester in 2019.
As part of Berlin Art Week, the work will conclude the exhibition DREAM TOGETHER and serve as the highlight of the “Tag im Grünen”. Visitors are encouraged to bring a bell. A limited number of bells will also be provided on site.
“Think PEACE, Act PEACE and Spread PEACE.
Together, we will shift the axis of the world to PEACE.
I love you!” – Yoko
Yoko Ono (*1933) is an internationally renowned artist whose practice spans film, music, literature and visual art. Since the 1960s, she has emphasised the transformative power of collective action and challenged our understanding of art and society.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMME
Until 14 September 2025, Fujiko Nakaya’s fog sculpture will be on view in the Sculpture Garden of the Neue Nationalgalerie, activated hourly between 11 am and 5 pm (Thu until 7 pm).
As part of the retrospective of Brazilian artist Lygia Clark, the following performances will take place:
- Thu, 11 September 2025, from 5:30 pm: Baba Antropofágica (1969) and Estruturas Vivas (1966)
- Sun, 14 September 2025, 12 pm: Estruturas Vivas and Túnel (1968)
Note
All PERFORM! events take place in areas of the museum accessible without a ticket. Admission to the exhibitions by Fujiko Nakaya and Lygia Clark requires a ticket. Capacity is limited and entry is granted on a first-come, first-served basis. Participation, unless otherwise stated, does not require registration.
WHEN?
10–14 September 2025
Daily times: according to programme
Special events: 14 September 2025 Bells for Peace, 12 pm: Lygia Clark Performances
WHERE?
Neue Nationalgalerie
Potsdamer Straße 50
10785 Berlin
COST?
Free admission to all PERFORM! events
Exhibitions by Fujiko Nakaya and Lygia Clark require a ticket
