As part of this year’s Gallery Weekend Berlin, the Neue Nationalgalerie is presenting three exhibitions: “Ruin and Intoxication. Berlin 1910–1930,” “Beeple. Regular Animals,” and the revival of Fujiko Nakaya’s fog sculpture. Throughout the weekend, from Friday, May 1, to Sunday, May 3, 2026, the “Gallery Weekend Art Talks” will feature a diverse, free program of talks with international guests in the Upper Hall.
Image Above: Göksu Kunak, Gallery Weekend Art Talk “Simulacra, Soap Operas, and Sacrifice”: Freitag, 1.5.2026, 14 Uhr
© Ege Dandin
With “Ruin and Intoxication,” the Neue Nationalgalerie focuses on selected works from its outstanding collection of Classical Modernism that explore the Berlin of the 1910s and 1920s. These decades—shaped by World War I and the Weimar Republic—constantly oscillated between extremes: excess and poverty, emancipation and extremism went hand in hand in the rapidly growing, cosmopolitan metropolis. With around 35 works—including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s “Potsdamer Platz,” Lotte Laserstein’s “Abend über Potsdam,” and Otto Dix’s painting of the dancer Anita Berber, on loan from the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg Collection at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart—the exhibition brings to life the ambivalence of glamour and misery, rise and fall in Berlin at that time.
>Ruin and Intoxication. Berlin 1910–1930, April 25, 2026 – January 3, 2027
To mark Gallery Weekend Berlin, the Neue Nationalgalerie is presenting the interactive installation “Regular Animals” by American artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) for the first time in Germany. The work consists of autonomous robotic dogs that move freely within a defined area in the lower foyer of the Neue Nationalgalerie. Each robotic figure is equipped with a hyperrealistic silicone head modeled after world-renowned personalities, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, and Beeple himself. The robots capture images of their surroundings via integrated cameras. These images are processed by AI systems that reinterpret the data according to each figure’s cultural, artistic, or ideological “style” and eject them from the robots’ rear ends. Accompanying the exhibition is Nam June Paik’s “Andy Warhol Robot” (1994), which offers a historical counterpoint to Beeple’s work. Admission to the special presentation is free.
> Beeple. Regular Animals, 29. April – 10. May 2026
Due to the great public interest, the Neue Nationalgalerie is once again presenting the site-specific fog sculpture by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya (* 1933, Sapporo) in its sculpture garden this year. From April 30 to October 25, 2026, Nakaya’s fog sculpture will not only envelop Mies van der Rohe’s iconic architecture in a monumental yet ephemeral way, but it will also initiate an intense dialogue between visitors and their immediate surroundings—and with themselves. Nakaya gained international fame in 1970 for her immersive fog sculptures, which she creates using a system of pure water mist. For the Neue Nationalgalerie, Nakaya has developed a new installation for 2025 that encompasses the entire sculpture garden and opens up new perspectives on the architecture of Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie.
> Fujiko Nakaya, 30. April – 25. Oktober 2026
Through August 9, 2026, the Neue Nationalgalerie, in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou in Paris, is presenting a major solo exhibition of the Romanian-French sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957). Featuring more than 150 works, it is the first comprehensive retrospective of this exceptional artist in Germany in over 50 years. In addition to major works such as “Sleeping Muse,” “The Kiss,” “Bird in Space,” and “Endless Column,” the exhibition presents, for the first time outside of Paris, a partial reconstruction of Brancusi’s famous studio, which is considered key to understanding his work.
> Brancusi, March 20 – August 9, 2026
GALLERY WEEKEND ART TALKS
Unless otherwise noted, the talks will be held in English. Space is limited, admission is free, and no registration is required.
Friday, 1. May 2026
11 am
The Future of the Art World
Panel discussion with Marion Ackermann (President, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), Grace Yao (Founder and CEO, Artlas), and Thomas Girst (Global Head of Cultural Engagement, BMW Group), moderated by András Szántó (author and cultural strategy consultant)
12:30 p.m.
From the Internet to Museum Walls Beeple in conversation with Lisa Botti (Curator, Neue Nationalgalerie)
2:00 p.m.
Simulacra, Soap Operas, and Sacrifice Göksu Kunak in conversation with Léon Kruijswijk (Performance Curator, Mudam Luxembourg)
3:30 p.m.
On Craft and Unexpected Materiality Pae White in conversation with Kimberly Bradley (art critic and cultural journalist)
5:00 p.m.
Photographic Vertigo Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili in conversation with Carina Bukuts (Chief Curator, Kunsthalle Wien)
Saturday, 2. May 2026
11 a.m. The Challenge of Live Art in Museum Spaces
panel discussion with Joel Valabrega (Program Director and Curator, Galeria Municipal do Porto), Matilde Guidelli-Guidi (Curator and Co-Director, Dia Art Foundation), Billy Tang (Artistic Director, YDP), moderated by Gregor Quack (Volkswagen Group Curator, Neue Nationalgalerie)
12:30 p.m. About Curating
Thomas Demand in conversation with Lynne Cooke (curator and author)
2:00 p.m. Hermetic Worlds and Total Constellations
Stella Zhong in conversation with Martin Germann (curator)
3:30 p.m. On Intuition, Memory, and Becoming
Edi Rama and Anri Sala in conversation with Natalia Gierowska (political scientist and art critic)
Sunday, 3. May 2026
11 a.m The Power of Abstract Figuration
Katherine Bradford in conversation with Chloe Stead (co-editor, Frieze)
12:30 p.m. Ecological Transience and Fantastical Transformation
Anne Duk Hee Jordan in conversation with Hae-ju Kim (Senior Curator and Head of Residencies, Singapore Art Museum)
2:00 p.m. Overcoming Modernism
Markus Lüpertz in conversation with Dorothea Schöne (Director, Kunsthaus Dahlem) The talk will be held in German
WHERE?
Potsdamer Str. 50, 10785 Berlin
