From 12 to 16 August 2026, Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie once again presents its open-air concert series Sound in the Garden. Four concert evenings, created specifically for the museum’s Sculpture Garden, bring together renowned musicians from a wide range of musical genres. The series concludes with a day of special sound installations dedicated to the Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya, whose site-specific fog sculpture is currently on view in the Sculpture Garden.
Image above: Sound in the Garden, Neue Nationalgalerie, 2025 © Neue Nationalgalerie – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Nik Mantilla
Sound in the Garden continues the tradition of innovative concert formats that have been held in the Neue Nationalgalerie’s Sculpture Garden since the museum first opened—from the legendary Jazz in the Garden events of the 1970s and 1980s, featuring artists such as Alice Coltrane and Keith Jarrett, to the Sound in the Garden series, which has become an established part of the museum’s program since its reopening in 2022.
The 2026 edition brings together pioneering artists such as ambient innovator Gigi Masin and krautrock icon Michael Rother (NEU!, Harmonia), alongside a younger generation of experimental musicians including upsammy, Valentina Magaletti, and Slauson Malone 1. The clarity and precision of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture, combined with the ephemeral poetry of Fujiko Nakaya’s fog sculpture, transform music into a spatial art form. An immersive d&b Soundscape audio system allows visitors to experience the performances while moving through the Sculpture Garden among its sculptures and plants.
PROGRAMM
Wednesday, 12. August 2026
Gigi Masin with Marco Baldini (Live)
upsammy & Valentina Magaletti (Live)
Doors open: 6:30 pm, Concert starts: 7:30 pm
Tickets: €23 plus booking fees. https://de.ra.co/events/2484871
For decades, ambient pioneer Gigi Masin has fused minimalist jazz with expansive, cinematic synthesizer textures. His music focuses on the spaces between notes, using silence as a physical instrument. After his 1980s album Wind became a landmark of minimal and ambient music, Masin now returns with his new album Movement, in which his signature atmospheric soundscapes meet driving rhythms.
On the same evening, upsammy and Valentina Magaletti present their recently released collaborative album Seismo. Blending field recordings with synthetic sounds, the duo creates fluid sonic landscapes that weave gracefully around irregular rhythms. Their collaboration, which began at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, places particular emphasis on movement and dynamism, making it the perfect counterpart to Masin’s performance.
Thursday, 13. August 2026
Space Afrika (DJ Set)
Dopplereffekt (Live)
Doors open: 6.30 pm, Begin: 17.30 pm
Tickets: €23 plus booking fees, https://de.ra.co/events/2484876
The music of Dopplereffekt draws equally on the mythology of Afrofuturism and the sounds and grooves of the natural sciences. As one half of the duo Drexciya, Gerald Donald gave Detroit techno much of its mythological foundation. In collaboration with To Nhan, Dopplereffekt combines cool, hypnotic synthesizer lines and otherworldly funk textures with stripped-back, driving drum beats. For the Sculpture Garden, the duo has developed a new live set.
Although their musical universe is shaped by entirely different ideas, this underlying atmosphere also resonates strongly with the music of the Manchester- and Berlin-based duo Space Afrika. They open the evening with a DJ set created especially for the Sculpture Garden.
Friday, 14. August 2026
Hildur Guðnadóttir & Sam Slater (Live)
Slauson Malone 1 (Live)
Doors open: 6.30 pm, Begin: 7.30 pm
Tickets: €23 plus booking fees, https://de.ra.co/pro/events/2484879
Academy Award- and Grammy-winning cellist and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir is renowned for her acclaimed film and television scores, including Chernobyl and Joker. British sound designer and music producer Sam Slater shared the Grammy Award for Chernobyl alongside Guðnadóttir. For Sound in the Garden, the two artists have created an entirely new experimental set, drawing on self-built instruments to explore new acoustic sound worlds.
Slauson Malone 1 is the music and performance project of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and visual artist Jasper Marsalis. His collage-like compositions combine fragmented jazz loops with punk influences and soulful melodies, turning his live performances into fast-paced cut-and-paste experiences.
Saturday, 15. August 2026
Michael Rother plays NEU!, Harmonia & Solo Works (Live)
Doors open: 6.30 pm, Begin: 7.30 pm
Tickets: €27 € plus booking fees, https://de.ra.co/events/2484881
This evening centers on one of krautrock’s true legends: Michael Rother. Together with his band, he looks back on more than five decades of musical innovation, performing works from his groundbreaking output with NEU! and Harmonia alongside selections from his highly influential solo career.
At the heart of Rother’s music is the so-called “motorik beat”—an unstoppable, forward-driving pulse that has often been described as the sonic equivalent of a night-time journey on the autobahn. Layered over this steady rhythmic foundation are the shimmering looped guitar melodies and warm analogue synthesizer textures that define nearly all of Rother’s projects. By replacing conventional verse-and-chorus structures with endless, hypnotic repetition, Rother established a structural foundation for much of modern progressive pop music. His influence can be heard in artists ranging from the post-punk of Joy Division to the expansive sonic landscapes of Radiohead.
Sunday, 16. August 2026
In dialogue with Fujiko Nakaya: Alva Noto, Stephen O’Malley, Ryuichi Sakamoto et al.
11 am – 11.59 pm (alternating every half hour and on the hour)
Tickets: Museumsticket (10 am – 6 pm), Evening ticket 10 € (6 pm – 10:00 pm) https://de.ra.co/events/2484888
Fujiko Nakaya gained international recognition in the 1970s for her immersive fog sculptures, which transcend the traditional boundaries of sculpture by creating temporary transformations that engage the audience and give tangible form to the atmosphere. Until 25 October 2026, the Neue Nationalgalerie presents a site-specific fog sculpture by the Japanese artist in its Sculpture Garden, where it interacts in both monumental and ephemeral ways with Mies van der Rohe’s iconic architecture.
This evening offers a unique opportunity to experience the fog sculpture from a new perspective. Throughout her career, Nakaya has repeatedly placed her sculptures in dialogue with music and sound art. The final day of Sound in the Garden continues this tradition, pairing the fog sculpture with half-hourly sound installations by selected musicians who have worked closely with Nakaya in the past or continue to collaborate with her today.
Performing under the name Alva Noto, artist Carsten Nicolai is one of the leading figures in contemporary electronic music. Inspired by science and mathematics, he creates minimalist sonic landscapes often shaped by codes, error structures, and chance. His performances have taken him to leading museums around the world, including Tate Modern, the Centre Pompidou, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His multimedia works combine music with visual and spatial installations.
Stephen O’Malley is a guitarist, producer, composer, and visual artist, best known as the co-founder of Sunn O))), KTL, and Khanate. For more than two decades, he has been a defining figure in drone and experimental music, creating an interdisciplinary body of work distinguished by its remarkable stylistic breadth and depth. O’Malley’s performances are immersive sonic rituals built from minimalist, electrified guitar sounds and expansive resonances.
Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952–2023) was an influential Japanese composer, pianist, and producer. He first achieved international recognition in the 1970s as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra before composing numerous award-winning film scores, including The Last Emperor and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. From the 2000s onward, he increasingly collaborated with artists from the electronic and avant-garde music scenes. His final works, including the 2023 album 12, reveal a restrained and introspective style. In consultation with the Ryuichi Sakamoto estate, works composed by Sakamoto in relation to Nakaya’s fog sculptures have been selected for this program.
The exhibition of Fujiko Nakaya is curated by Klaus Biesenbach, Director of the Neue Nationalgalerie, and Lisa Botti, Curator at the Neue Nationalgalerie. Assistant Curator: Nikola Richolt.
Sound in the Garden is curated by Gregor Quack, Volkswagen Group Curator. The project is made possible by the FREUNDE der Nationalgalerie in cooperation with CTM Festival for Adventurous Music & Art, Berlin. The festival receives major support from its principal sponsors, audibene GmbH and d&b audiotechnik.
WHEN?
Wednesday, 12. August – Sunday, 16. August 2026
WHERE?
Neue Nationalgalerie
Potsdamer Straße 50
10785 Berlin-Tiergarten
