The Next Day #152: Berlin Weekend Guide
Must-see events in Berlin: May 13-17, 2026. Cover photo: Kali Malone by Frankie Castillo
This week is a long one. Himmelfahrt lands on Thursday, which means four days to work with. The centrepiece is The Infinite Now, the programme running 30 hours straight at Kraftwerk from Saturday evening. If you're going and you should, start on Thursday: Prelude 3 brings Sinfonietta Cracovia playing Gavin Bryars live for €5.
Theatertreffen is still going on through Sunday and we recommend Three Times Left is Right at HAU1. The full programme is here. Besides, tickets are available for Antigone at the Berliner Ensemble and for Peer Gynt at the Volksbühne.
If you haven’t made it to Gallery Weekend yet, some of the best shows are still up - we can check them out in edition 150. Worth adding to the list: Brancusi at the Neue Nationalgalerie, Peter Hujar and Marina Abramović at Gropius Bau, Gallery Looks at the Gemäldegalerie.
Lalai & Mateus
IF YOU DO TWO THINGS THIS WEEKEND
The Infinite Now — Berlin Atonal x Unsound [live / frequency]
Sat-Sun, 16-17.05 from 6 pm until midnight (Sunday) · Kraftwerk Berlin, Köpenicker Str. 70 · 30h pass from €54-128, day tickets available.
The joint programme from Berlin Atonal and Unsound runs 30 hours without interruption. Caterina Barbieri presents her new work for electronics, vocal ensemble and brass. Kali Malone plays through the night using works otherwise heard only in gallery installations. Marta Salogni - producer for Björk, Depeche Mode and black midi - performs a new work for multiple reel-to-reel tape machines and oscillators. Stars of the Lid at dawn. Keiji Haino twice. Actress with a new live show. Terrence Dixon closes Sunday with a world premiere. Read our highlights here.
Peer Gynt, directed by Vinge, Müller, and Reinholdtsen
15-25.05, 4 pm - 12 am. Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz. €30.
After its premiere last year, it returns to the Volksbühne for six 8-hour performances, the contemporary adaptation of Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen. Reimagines Ibsen’s epic as a bold contemporary spectacle, blending chaos, satire, and theatrical excess in a radical staging of the classic tale of ambition, identity, and self-delusion.
RUNNING THROUGH THE WEEK
A MAZE.: 15th International Games and Playful Media Festival [look/gather] Wed–Sat, 13–16.05 · silent green, Gerichtstraße 35
Games as artistic language: installations, AI, interactive media, talks across four days on the entire silent green site. One of the few festivals that treats play as a serious cultural question.
WEDNESDAY — 13.05
://sektgarten x Muscheln am Strand [gather/sweat]
Wednesday, 5 - 11 pm · about:blank, Markgrafendamm 24c · free · open-air
Hamza Abu Howidy, one of the clearest political voices from the Palestinian exile, talks about growing up in Gaza in the 2000s: his father, shells on the beach, Hamas, prison, flight. Andeel and Meriem (Prisma) on the decks after.
Antigone - Directed by Johan Simons
13.05, 7:30 pm; 14.05, 6 pm (+24-25.05). Berliner Ensemble, Bertolt-Brecht-Platz, 1. €7-64.
A stark Antigone on law, justice, and family, as personal loyalty collides with state power in a city shattered by war.
Shkoon / TRACES [live]
Wednesday, 8 - 11:30 pm · Festsaal Kreuzberg, Am Flutgraben 2 · €35
Ten years of work from this German-Syrian duo, folded into one live set. Arabic folk melodies woven into electronic production, original lyrics about displacement and memory. The album is called TRACES for a reason.
MORE ON WEDNESDAY →
↳ Die Welt im Rücken (The World at Your Back), directed by Lucia Bihler:
A visceral theatrical portrait of bipolar disorder, transforming mental extremes into music, movement, and striking imagery. 13-14.05, 7:30 pm. Haus der Berliner Festspiele. €17–58 [watch]
↳ Improvised & Experimental No. 277: Two improvised sound installations with Friederike Wendorf (flutes, voice), Kriton Beyer (daxophone), Hannes Buder (cello), Rachel Skipor (dance). 8 pm · Hošek Contemporary · €10 [live]
↳ dreamlink (vol. III): Night of ambient and experimental electronics music with Andriy K., mu tate and endléa. 8 pm · Maybachufer 16 · €10–20 [frequency]
↳ Unkompress Deep Dive: Dream House & Sunset Grooves '87–'95: Vinyl listening on Balearic and dream house feat. 6 pm · Fichtestrasse 23 · free [frequency]
↳ Nazanin Noori: BEHOLD GOD IN ALL THAT EXISTS IN HIS NAME: Opening tonight. Iranian artist, site-specific installation at Klosterruine Berlin. DJ Mariloy plays. Runs through Apr. 2027. 6 - 9 pm · Klosterstraße 73a · free [look]
THURSDAY — 14.05 [Himmelfahrt]
Jarboe & Joy Von Spain w/ Dead Western [live]
Thursday, 8 pm · Genezarethkirche, Pannierstraße 20, Neukölln · €20
Jarboe shaped what Swans became and has been on her own path ever since. Performances that sit between ritual and recital, voice and synthesis as a single instrument. 🎧 SIGHTINGS
Prelude 3: Sinfonietta Cracovia plays Gavin Bryars & Aleksandra Słyż [frequency]
Thursday, 8 - 11 pm · Kraftwerk Berlin, Köpenicker Str. 70 · €5
The Sinking of the Titanic and Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, live with Krakow’s Sinfonietta Cracovia. Both pieces treat duration and repetition as the primary material. Aleksandra Słyż opens with a new work she recently played at Alice Tully Hall. Five euros.
Sturmundrang w/ MSHR, Lottie Sebes, Francesco Corvi, Naher Einer, Takako [frequency]
Thursday, 8 pm - 2 am · 90mil, Holzmarktstrasse 19–23 · €12–20
MSHR builds spatial feedback systems from homemade instruments, light and sound folding into each other. Lottie Sebes runs an industrial sewing machine motor through electromagnetic microphones. Francesco Corvi does live coding between Algorave and IDM.
MORE ON THURSDAY →
↳ Estelle Dining: English Roast on Thursday — beef, Yorkshire pudding, scotch eggs, oysters, Eton Mess. Sunday is the last La Petite Estelle until October. Thu 11 am–3 pm · €30pp · Sun 17.05 from 5 pm · €40 · Kopenhagener Str. 12A [eat]
↳ Bex Burch & Johannes Schleiermacher: Bex Burch presents new work for KORG phase8 acoustic synthesizer, followed by a duo with Schleiermacher on saxophone and percussion. Thu 8 pm · km28 · donation-based [live]
↳ Fruit Salon: Literature open mic hosted by Demi Anter - poetry, spoken word, fiction, essays. Still-life drawing with Luca Bentley. Thu 7:30 pm · The Hoxton, Charlottenburg [gather]
↳ Dälek (US) + ZAHN: Two decades of hip-hop colliding with noise and shoegaze. The new record was built on the MPC 3000 and processed guitars. Thu 8 pm · Neue Zukunft, Alt-Stralau 68 [live]
↳ XJazz! presents Marcos Valle: 80th birthday show from the composer behind Samba de Verão. Sampled by Kanye, covered by Sinatra. Thu 7:30 pm · Heimathafen Neukölln · €36 [live]
FRIDAY — 15.05
TRYP Expo [misc]
Fri–Sun · Funkhaus Berlin, Nalepastraße 18 · from €9.99 / full pass €599
Three days built around the question of how you want to move through the world. 80+ speakers, 45+ workshops across somatics, research, sound and art. Less conference, more open system. The Sunday afterparty with Ricardo Villalobos runs until Monday morning.
H+P: GUSH, Tony Morris, Isa Gordon & Stuart McKenzie [live]
Friday, 7 pm · Kantine am Berghain, Am Wriezener Bahnhof 70 · €15–20
Four live acts presented by the label Huntleys & Palmers. GUSH is Heatsick’s Steven Warwick and Vanya: avant-pop between Silver Apples and post-punk. Tony Morris: what Boomkat called “the minimal synth Ivor Cutler.” Isa Gordon does pagan techno. Stuart McKenzie combines spoken word poetry and house music.
Side Defects: MPU101 (Live) + Kaltwasser TV [live/frequency]
Friday, 10 pm · Lark, Holzmarktstrasse 15–18 · €15
MPU101 (Ilian Tape) is doing rare live performances with new and unreleased material. Kaltwasser TV adds modular video synthesis. Custom four-way bass reflex sound system. Olya Smok, theories and mFx take the floor for six hours.
MORE ON FRIDAY →
↳ Tea & Vinyl: Inoyama Land: Full listen of a meditative Japanese ambient album produced by Haruomi Hosono, with curated tea served throughout. Atemporal at its quietest. Fri 6 - 7:30 pm · Atemporal Project · €16 [frequency]
↳ Pharmakon + aska: Margaret Chardiet uses synthesis physiologically, a transfer between her body and the room. aska lands somewhere between coldwave and industrial pop. Fri 7 pm · Cassiopeia · €28 [live]
↳ Crave Tapes: The Violent Youth + Psyche: Belarusian post-punk presents new album Tsvety. Then Psyche - EBM and darkwave, active since 1982. Fri 9 pm · Urban Spree, Revaler Str. 99 · €25 [live]
↳ Proxima x Sameheads: DJ TOOL, Temple Rat & Audrey Danza: Proxima returns to Berlin after two years. Percussion-driven rhythms and trance-inflected techno until 7 am. Fri 11 pm · Sameheads, Richardstrasse 10 [sweat]
↳ Videoart at Midnight: Vika Kirchenbauer: Screening of work by Berlin-based artist whose video and performance practice moves through trans experience, technology and affect. Fri Midnight · Babylon, Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz · free [look]
SATURDAY — 16.05
The Infinite Now opens tonight at 6 pm at Kraftwerk. 30 hours without interruption - the full programme is above.
Frequencies of Displacement - Tehran Contemporary Sounds [frequency]
Saturday, 9 pm - 3 am · Studio dB, Uferstrasse 8–11, Studio A14 · €13-20
Curated around Iranian and SWANA diaspora artists in electroacoustic and experimental sound. Rojin Sharafi performs live. An audiovisual set from Qusay Awad, Dhia and Rand Abou Fakher follows.
Three Times Left is Right, directed by Julian Hetzel [watch]
15-16.05, 7 pm; 17.05, 4 pm. HAU1, Stresemannstr. 29. €17–58.
A darkly comic portrait of a politically divided couple probing ideology, intimacy, and society’s fractured moral lines. #Theatertreffen
JD Zazie & Stephanie Castonguay - SOLOS / DUO on turntables [frequency]
Saturday, 8 pm · Galiläakirche, Rigaer Str. 9, Friedrichshain. 8 pm. €10-20 (door).
Castonguay plays Playmobil-built turntables with multiple tonearms and decomposing bio-vinyls. Zazie follows - turntablism as sonic sculpture.
MORE ON SATURDAY
↳ Skulpturenpark Schwante — Saisoneröffnung: Carsten Nicolai, Jorinde Voigt, Erwin Wurm and more, outdoors. Free entry, guided tour at 3 pm, Wagyu burger from the grill. Sat 12–6 pm · Schlossgut Schwante, Schlossplatz 1, Oberkrämer · 40 min by car from Berlin [escape/look]
↳ |||||||||||||||||||| (live): Anonymous UK producer - jazz and IDM folding into bass music. Ulla opens. Sat 9 pm · arkaoda, Karl-Marx-Platz 16 · €15 [live]
↳ Church Andrews & Matt Davies / Dumama, Zeynep Ayşe, Eftichidou: Berlin premiere of Tilt, then Dumama, Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoglu and Sofia Eftichidou meeting for the first time. Sat 8 pm · Ausland · €10 [frequency]
↳ INCIDENT E: Gaza Soup Kitchen Fundraiser: Pharmakon rare DJ set, LAMB.K305 and Operant live. Official afterparty of Grey City Festival. Sat 11:59 pm ·Fitzroy, Holzmarktstraße 15 · €17–20 [sweat]
↳ Tanzfabrik: Voices of Resistance: Open studio, talk and party in one evening. Contemporary dance, institutional weight, open format. Sat 7 pm · Uferstudios 14, Badstraße 41A · €10–25 [gather]
SUNDAY — 17.05
The Infinite Now is still going. Terrence Dixon closes with a world premiere at 11 pm.
Endless Groove Sessions w/ Joe Claussell [sweat]
Sunday, 1:30 - 10 pm · Zenner, Alt-Treptow 15 · €24-36
Joe Claussell is back in Berlin for the first time in nearly ten years. Seven hours, start to finish, his selection. Communal lunch at 1:30 pm, solidarity tickets available by email. Profits go to Hildahaus and Doctors Without Borders.
Omana x TRYP Afterparty: Ricardo Villalobos, Vera, Arno, Volkan Akin [sweat]
Sunday, 7 pm - 5 am · Funkhaus Berlin, Nalepastraße 18 · €37
Ricardo Villalobos at Funkhaus with Vera, Einzelkind (Arno), Volkan Akin, Sibil across two rooms. Few DJs are as obsessive about sound as Villalobos. Few rooms reward it like this one.
MORE ON SUNDAY
↳ Thai'd Up Sundays at The Rad: Thai-inspired Middle Eastern meze, vegetarian and vegan, made for sharing. À la carte €7–15. Come early. Sun 2 pm until sold out · The Rad, Friedelstraße 30 · Book a table here [eat]
↳ Food Technique Berlin x Stoke: Artisan ramen pop-up - long-simmered broths, handmade noodles. Sun 1–7 pm · Stoke, reservations@stokeberlin.com · €60 [eat]
↳ Finissage: Memory Is a Strange Bell: Last day of the Senate stipend show - tour with İpek Burçak, Olga Monina, Ania Nowak, Niclas Riepshoff and others. Sun 4–6 pm · Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Kottbusser Str. 10 · free [look]
↳ Emmon + A Solemn Promise: Sweden’s EBM act Emma Nylén paired with A Solemn Promise — industrial and neoclassical. Sun 8 pm · Urban Spree, Revaler Str. 99 [live]
↳ Lambert & Friends: The masked German pianist in trio format with contrabass and drums. Neo-classical, melancholic, entirely his own. Sun 8 pm · Kammermusiksaal, Herbert-von-Karajan-Str. 11 [live]
↳ ɴO𐊥UтUʀE kwia: NO FUTURE takes over Kwia. PAULAH, Paulawar, AAMIROO, TUFI, FISK. Sun 8 pm · Maybachufer 16 · €8 [sweat]
↳ Chinese American Bear: Seattle duo presenting new album Dim Sum & Then Some. Indie-pop, disco, psychedelic, strings. Sun 7 pm · Kantine am Berghain · €29 [live]
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SAVE THE DATE
↳ Call Loneliness By Its True Name: Shared table dinner with a screening of a short doc by UdK students on belonging in Berlin. Bring food to share. Tuesday, 19.05, 6:30 - 9:30 pm · C-Space, Langhansstraße 86 · €10–15 [gather]
↳ HYBRID Festival: Three nights of performance, technology and collective learning at Uferstudios. Seven multidisciplinary productions where artists are also researchers and audiences become participants. 22–24.05 · 7 pm · Studio 1, Badstraße 41A · €10–20 [gather / live]
↳ Kiezsalon 2026 Opening Weekend: Andrea Belfi & Jules Reidy, Susannah Stark & Band, alice does computer music. Two evenings at Schloss Britz. 22–23.05 · doors 6:30 pm · Alt-Britz 73 · €11 [live]
↳ Dialoge — Reethaus: Sasha Waltz & Guests take over the full building in a site-specific performance rooted in Deep Listening and Authentic Movement. Diego Noguera live. 30–31.05 · 4 pm & 8 pm · Reethaus · €45 [live]
↳ Grape Odyssey Wine Festival: Slovenian and regional winemakers at Kühlhaus Berlin, with tastings, producers in person, and an afterparty until 10 pm. TND readers get in for €20. 31.05 · noon–6 pm · Luckenwalder Str. 3 [gather]