The Next Day #161: Berlin Weekend Guide
Must-see events in Berlin: July 16-19, 2026
Mateus is packing for WHOLE. Four days at Ferropolis, and by the time he's back, Berlin will already be planning the next thing. I'm staying. Summer is good, but by mid-July, there's a specific kind of tiredness that comes from not stopping. So this weekend I'm leaning into the city at half-speed.
Have a nice weekend.
Lalai
IF YOU DO TWO THINGS THIS WEEKEND
WHOLE - United Queer Festival [sweat/gather]
Friday - Monday · Ferropolis, 2h from Berlin · Weekend €279 (resale from €222) · Sunday €129
Eighth edition at Ferropolis, two hours from Berlin. Octo Octa live, Tama Sumo, HAAi, Sherelle, Kim Ann Foxman, Juliana Huxtable across six stages between excavators and a lake. But the weight sits with 30+ collectives: Anti-Mass from Kampala, Eau de Cologne from Tbilisi, Bung Lon from Saigon, Sextou from London. Cruising Village and FLINTA* spaces both expanded this year. We wrote a dedicated guide.
Kiezsalon: Limpe Fuchs & Grischa Lichtenberger [live]
Saturday · 8 pm · Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4 · €10
Limpe Fuchs builds instruments from bronze, granite, and hardwood. On Saturday, she premieres a collaboration with Grischa Lichtenberger: raw-material intuition against Raster’s granular precision, on stage together for the first time.
THURSDAY 16.07
Afternoon at Pace to visit the “Goodbye Sadness, Hello Sadness” and the Kunath bar. UNCLOUDED on the Nationalgalerie terrace. Berlin Beats at Hamburger Bahnhof.
UNCLOUDED #2 [gather/frequency]
Thursday · 5-10 pm · Neue Nationalgalerie, Potsdamer Straße 50 · free
Sound Metaphors DJs on the Neue Nationalgalerie terrace at sunset. H.A.N.D. HiFi brings a handmade sound system, and Circadian serves rare Japanese teas.
Endzeit: Mike Parker // Convextion (Live) // Lily Ackerman [frequency]
Thursday · 10 pm · OHM, Köpenicker Str. 70 · €17 / waiting list
Mike Parker builds techno from polyrhythmic systems that have no real equivalent. Convextion plays live, which happens less and less. Lily Ackerman b2b Kudeki fill the night. Endzeit’s curation, run as a US-based nonprofit for experimental electronic music, hasn’t missed.
MORE ON THURSDAY
↳ Goodbye Sadness, Hello Sadness: Group show with 27 artists. The real reason to go: Kunath’s Bar Va Bene, a replica of his LA studio bar, serving negronis and white Burgundy inside the gallery. Thu-Sun 5-10 pm. Through 23.08. Pace (Die Tankstelle), Bülowstr. 18, Schöneberg · free [look/gather]
↳ Bjørn Melhus: LOST IN FINITY: Thirty-five years of Melhus turning American TV and film soundtracks into satirical loops where he plays every role. LOST IN FINITY compiles it. Through 23.08. Opening: 7 pm · silent green, Gerichtstr. 35 · free [look]
↳ Berlin Beats: GiGi FM: GiGi FM moves between techno, bass, breaks, and ambient. 7 pm · Hamburger Bahnhof, Invalidenstr. 50-51 · free [frequency]
↳ After Work at Fotografiska: Guided tour through Anton Corbijn, Bruce Gilden, Lee Shulman and Bob Jones. 6 pm · Fotografiska · Oranienburger Str. 54 · €25-30 [look/gather]
↳ Crossroads: al Qadr Launch: Five artisans from Tunisia to Uzbekistan: fashion, jewelry, ceramics. Food by Louisa Mammeri from the Maghreb to Central Asia. 6:30 pm · Jiwar Space, Weserstr. 165 · Free with RSVP. [gather]
↳ Seyyare: Anatolian Women's Choir: Anatolian women's choir in open rehearsal inside the Kyiv Biennial at KW. Singing in a biennale in exile. Free with the exhibition ticket. 7 pm · KW, Auguststr. 69 [live]
↳ Kollaborative Assemblagen / Wien: Screening: Ursula Pürrer and Ashley Hans Scheirl (Flaming Ears, 1992, queer experimental cinema canon) plus talk with Pürrer. 7 pm · Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Regina-Jonas-Str. 41-43 [watch]
FRIDAY — 17.07
Start the evening at Bethanien: Aba Naia performs at 7, then decide between the Sound Metaphors party and SAVVY.
Lila: A nightlong musical ritual [live]
Friday · 11 pm · SAVVY Contemporary, Reinickendorfer Str. 17 · €10
Six hours, nightfall to dawn. Maalem Mustapha Sam of Marrakesh, known as Sam Sghir, opens the path on guembri; Mqaddma Souad guards scents, colours, and rhythms while the mluk are called through their seven forms. Sonic Pluriverse rests on this ritual, the form Gnawa comes from.
Sound Metaphors [sweat]
Friday · 10 pm · Berghain · Panorama Bar · Säule · €30
Paranoid London on acid hardware that makes rooms physically uncomfortable in the best way. I-F as Beverly Hills 808303, three decades of Intergalactic FM digging. Traxx carries Chicago's Nation lineage. Nightmares on Wax on Warp since '89, Paula Tape and Flo Dill hold Panorama.
MORE ON FRIDAY
↳ Peter Somuah: Walking Distance. Edison Jazz Award winner Somuah presents his album, featuring a live trumpet solo, during a morning deep-listening session. Donation, RSVP - €5-15. 10 am · Atemporal, Boxhagener Str. 96 [live]
↳ Forecast Festival: Heinali + Almagul Menlibayeva: Heinali reimagines Hildegard von Bingen through Ukrainian folk vocal technique and modular synthesis. Menlibayeva presents Water Older Than Sun. 7 pm · Radialsystem, Holzmarktstr. 33 · €15 / The Forecast Festival happens between 16-19.07 [live]
↳ Kiezsalon with Sarah Neufeld and Elif Gülin Soğuksu: Sarah Neufeld's solo violin at its most cutting (Hymn for the Hurting, 2022) meets Elif Gülin Soğuksu on electroacoustic. 8 pm · Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4 · €10 [live]
↳ We Can Do It Moaning: Performance by Aba Naia collective. Part of Fight or Flight Festival (theme this year: Sex). 7 pm · Kunstquartier Bethanien, Studio 1 · free [watch]
↳ The Bug presents: PRESSURE: Kevin Martin’s PRESSURE on a custom sound system: Dillinja, JK Flesh (Justin Broadrick), Dis Fig, Ghost Dubs. Bass with no concessions. 11 pm · Gretchen, Obentrautstr. 19-21 · €22 [live/sweat]
SATURDAY 18.07
FLORA in the afternoon for dancing in nature. Run Time Anomaly at AdK Hanseatenweg. Kiezsalon to see Limpe Fuchs (see above) or Kindl anniversary party. Unkompress after. If you still have energy, Robert Hood.
Run Time Anomaly [watch/live]
Saturday · 8 pm; and Sunday 6 pm · Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10 · €19
Part of an ongoing series in which architecture becomes an instrument and a score. Steen-Andersen spent three weeks inside the Düttmann building with Sasha Waltz's Youth Dance Company: twelve dancers moving through corridors as sub-frequencies make the concrete tremble. Movements are amplified. Electronic music was composed on-site. Seventy minutes, no equivalent.
10 Jahre KIND
Saturday · 4 - 10 pm · KINDL, Am Sudhaus 3 · Free
KINDL turns ten and opens for free all day. Ania Nowak performs Oral is Moral, threading desire and care through spoken language; Dante Buu holds a five-hour wordless piece; Daniel Meir closes the Sudhaus live inside Iliggocene. Saint September DJs Babette’s Garden from four.
MORE ON SATURDAY
↳ FLORA Festival: Unrush 10 Years: Free DIY gathering in nature powered by renewable energy. Unrush celebrates ten years with ambient and soft electronica. 3 pm · secret outdoor location (follow them on Telegram) · free [frequency]
↳ Unkompress Saturday Session: Yuzo Iwata on an open-format vinyl session at the listening bar. Limited capacity; arrive early. 9 pm · Fichtestraße 23 · free [frequency]
↳ Tresor invites Robert Hood, the Underground Resistance founding member. Minimal Nation (1994) still defines the form. Andy Hart, So-Fi, Cecilia Tosh, JANEIN. 11 pm · Tresor, Köpenickerstraße 70 · €23 [sweat]
SUNDAY 19.07
Either a day trip to WHOLE or a lazy afternoon at Treptower Park with SIP! at Zenner. Limpe Fuchs’ conversation at After. Estate Italiana in Schöneberg if you're hungry. Then find somewhere to watch the Final.
Creamcake with Barnett Cohen, Krista Papista & Character DJ
Sunday · 2-6 pm · Tropez at Sommerbad Humboldthain, Wiesenstraße 1 · with pool entry
Sunday afternoon at the pool. Krista Papista performs Euro Divas, rewriting Mediterranean myth through queer electronic punk. Barnett Cohen’s tactics of practice with Shamica Ruddock and Sally Butin hold pleasure against discord. Character DJ closes into the water.
Daniela Mercury [live]
Sunday · 5 pm (doors) · 7 pm (show) · Festsaal Kreuzberg, Am Flutgraben 2 · €45-60
Forty years of axé, MPB, and Afro-Brazilian music from one of Brazil’s most powerful live performers. Cirandaia Tour brings a full band, a classically trained dancer, and a voice that fills rooms without trying.
MORE ON SUNDAY
↳ Estate Italiana: Open House: Italian open house: long tables, shared plates, two Roman chefs cooking honest seasonal food à la carte. Wine, no reservation, first come. 12:30 pm · Atelier Culinario, Kyffhäuserstr. 21, Schöneberg [gather/drink]
↳ Ambient Baby x Day Dreamer Sessions: Farewell afternoon at Kwia: ambient, gentle dancing, storytime and soundscapes for families. Joa Luna on sound. 2 pm · Kwia, Maybachufer 16 · €8-12/kids free [gather/frequency]
↳ Limpe Fuchs in conversation with Heiko Hoffmann: Limpe Fuchs in conversation with Heiko Hoffmann (ex-Groove editor, No Photos on the Dancefloor! curator). Doors 4 pm · After, Köpenicker Str. 187-188 · free [gather]
↳ SIP! with Reggie Watts & Delwin (live), Justin Shaffer, Dragana: Reggie Watts' genre-agnostic musical brain runs riverside on a Sunday afternoon. 3 pm · Zenner, Alt-Treptow · 15 free [gather]
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SAVE THE DATE
↳ Max Cooper | 3D/AV Live Show: A PhD in computational biology builds these shows: light, sound and generative projection running as one live system, not a DJ set with visuals bolted on. Rare stop in Berlin. 24.07 · 10 pm · Haus der Visionäre, Eichenstr. 4a · €38-44 [frequency]
↳ Gaswerk Music Days 2026: Four days across two weekends built around modular synthesis, Nyege Nyege’s Kampala sound, desert blues into soundsystem culture, then krautrock improvisation. 24.07-31.07 · Gaswerksiedlung, Blockdammweg 1 · €25 per day [frequency]
↳ Faraquet (US / Dischord Records): DC math rock legends, back on stage for the first time since 2008, marking 25 years of their cult album The View From This Tower. One of only three Central European dates. 25.07 · 8 pm · Neue Zukunft, Alt-Stralau 68 · €26 [live]
↳ wielding fissures – carving cracks in the surface of the now: Sorour Darabi’s first opera reimagines Scheherazade outside the myth that boxed her in, paired with Alice Ripoll’s Rio company Cia REC. 31.07–02.08 · Radialsystem, Holzmarktstraße 33 · €18 [watch]
↳ Tanz im August: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre brings Sounding Light; Calixto Neto’s Bruits Marrons gets its German premiere. Nineteen productions total. 13–29.08 · HAU, Radialsystem & Haus der Berliner Festspiele · €14.30–48.40 [watch]
↳ ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U: Industrial collapsing into gabber into anime score into gqom, played loud and without a shirt, Errorsmith and yungfya open. Thursday 20.08 · 8 pm · Haus der Visionäre, Eichenstr. 4a · €27-37.50 [sweat]