The Next Day #162: Berlin Weekend Guide
Must-see events in Berlin: July 23-26, 2026
Before the CSD takes over Berlin, a few things are worth carving out time for. Jeremy Shaw’s Phase Shifting Index closes at Hamburger Bahnhof this Sunday - last chance as part of Museum in Motion. Seven channels of dancers moving through decades of subcultures until they suddenly snap into sync.
If you’re around Potsdamer Straße, make a day of it. Pace is showing Friedrich Kunath’s studio bar replica, open to the public Thursday through Sunday, 5 to 10 pm, through August 23. From there it’s a short walk to Esther Schipper, Max Hetzler, and Judin. Loop back to the Neue Nationalgalerie in time for Roi Perez’s CSD warm-up on the terrace Saturday, and you’ve turned an art walk into a whole day out.
I also caught Bjørn Melhus’s Lost in Finity at silent green and can’t recommend it enough. Pair it with the open-air screening of Melancholia this Friday, same building, same universe.
If you need more green and less noise, Berlin Flora Festival is running every weekend through the summer with genuinely good music in the middle of nature. Worth building a day around.
One more thing: we’re taking a break for the next two weeks. To tide you over, we’ll share a save-the-date with the must-see events happening those two weekends. Bear with us!
We’ve published a CSD Special Guide with some extra tips.
Lalai & Mateus
IF YOU DO TWO THINGS THIS WEEKEND
CSD Berlin 2026 [gather]
Friday rally at Brandenburg Gate from 6 pm · Saturday parade from noon, Leipziger Str. to Straße des 17. Juni · free
First two-day edition. Drag March from Nollendorfplatz on Friday at 5 pm, then Demokratieabend at Brandenburg Gate until 11 pm. On Saturday, the parade starts at noon from Spittelmarkt, through Potsdamer Platz and Nollendorfplatz, ending at the Siegessäule under the motto: Haltung ist hot. Half a million people are expected, dozens of trucks, and the whole city shifts. For a good spot to watch it go by, the Neue Nationalgalerie terrace hosts a free warm-up on Saturday with Roi Perez from noon, before the parade reaches it at 1 pm. You can check out our special CSD guide here.
Gaswerk Music Days 2026 [frequency/live]
Friday, from 7 pm; Saturday, from 4 pm; and Sunday, from 3 pm · Gaswerksiedlung, Köpenicker Chaussee 24-39 · €34 per day
Fourth edition across two stages, made by musicians for curious ears. Each day has its own crowd. Friday MODULA is for deep listeners: live modular synthesis from NSI. (Tobias Freund & Max Loderbauer), Sarah Wreath, OORA. Saturday MOTHER DRUM is the one to dance to, rhythm from the Nyege Nyege orbit with Ancestral Futures (Ibaaku & K'boko), Jay Mitta on Singeli, Catu Diosis, Pili Pili Girls. Sunday ROOTSONIC winds down into roots and voice: MC Yallah & Scotch Rolex, desert blues from Tissilawen, Ecko Bazz, Kampire.
THURSDAY 23.07
Arkbro and Hamann at the Stoschek Foundation. MARRØN at Hamburger Bahnhof if you want to start outside. Kwia’s last night ever after.
Lucia Kagramanyan: Panorama Yerevan [frequency]
Thursday · 7 pm · KW Institute, Auguststr. 69, Mitte · €5
Listening session on Armenian lullabies from the Public Radio of Armenia archives. Kagramanyan handles the material like an old box: what survived, what gets passed on, what a language carries when it rocks a child to sleep.
Sound and Fluids: Ellen Arkbro & Judith Hamann [frequency]
Thursday · 7:30 pm · Julia Stoschek Foundation, Leipziger Str. 60 · €15
Ellen Arkbro composes for precision-tuned harmony: acoustic instruments, synthetic sound, and their combinations. Judith Hamann performs Daysong (for two cellos), composed for her. Part of Sound and Fluids at JSF, curated by Reece Cox and Tabea Marschall, where listening becomes spatial and embodied.
Music From Beyond: Maresz + Del Gesù + The Midnight Audience [frequency]
Thursday · 8 pm · silent green, Gerichtstr. 35 · €17
Three acts, each at a different edge. Maresz, Kazakh-Polish singer, writes slow-core with guitar wizard RIP Swirl after years of dancefloor minimalism on Cititrax NYC. Del Gesù released PERGO on Sega Bodega’s Ambient Tweets: classical heart, strong visual craft. The Midnight Audience builds soundtracks without images.
MORE ON THURSDAY
↳ Archive des Ephemeren: Anna Berndtson, Ali Rıza Ceylan, Effrosyni Kontogeorgou, Hadas Tapouchi on archiving what resists fixation: movement, memory, scent. Opening Thursday · 6 pm · rk-Galerie Lichtenberg · free [look]
↳ Afterimage | Neun: Seven photographers from Mustafah Abdulaziz's year-long seminar treat documentary work as personal inquiry. Opening with DJs, then a photo walk and zine workshop. Opening: Thursday, 6 pm. Photo walk on Saturday, 2 pm (€15). Exhibition runs until 02.08 · Gr_und, Seestrasse 49 · free [look]
↳ Clio Marden & Alex Catlin Freytag: For a Long Time I Felt Like There Was More to It: Performance aboard a ship on the Spree. 6-10 pm, then 24-25.07 · noon-6 pm · Hošek Contemporary, MS Heimatland, Märkisches Ufer 1z, Mitte · [watch]
↳ Polyphonic Garden - Edition 01: female:pressure day in the garden. Workshops, Electric Indigo in conversation, CATENATION live. 2-10 pm · MAAYA Garden · free [gather]
↳ Berlin Beats: MARRØN: Eerste Communie co-founder from Amsterdam. Hypnotic percussion evolving from afro deep into his own techno. Ben Klock plays on 30.07; and Nene H on 06.08. Hamburger Bahnhof · Thursday · 7 pm · Invalidenstr. 50-51 · free [frequency]
↳ subglow x isla (LIVE edition): CCL and NAP’s label Isla bring a live-only evening. Crespi Drum Syndicate, trickpony, Kiernan Laveaux. 7 pm - 2 am · 90mil, Holzmarktstr. 19-23 · €10-20 [live]
↳ Weich x Kwia 4ever: Kwia’s final night. The listening bar that infused Berlin nightlife with softness and pandan fizz closes for good. 8 pm · Maybachufer 16 · €10-15 [gather/frequency]
FRIDAY 24.07
Sarah Wreath on live modular and NSI. at Gaswerk MODULA (see above), Max Cooper's AV show at Haus der Visionäre, or Liturgy at Neue Zukunft if you want something heavier. Dimitra Zina at Atemporal for Mediterranean records first.
Max Cooper | 3D/AV Live Show [frequency]
Friday · 9:30 pm · Haus der Visionäre, Eichenstr. 4a · €38-44
A PhD in computational biology builds this: light, sound and generative projection running as one system, not a DJ set with visuals bolted on. Fifteen years of work distilled into a single live show.
MORE ON FRIDAY
↳ Liturgy + Machukha: Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix's transcendental black metal, philosophy and sacred ritual fused. Warning: loud and nervy. First of three nights at Neue Zukunft. 8 pm · Alt-Stralau 68 · €29 [live]
↳ Mediterranean Grooves: Dimitra Zina: Greek, Italian, Turkish records. Jazz, funk, cinematic soundtracks from the ‘70s and ‘80s. Worldwide FM and Radio Alhara curator. 6:30 pm · Atemporal, Boxhagener Str. 96 · €10-15 [frequency]
↳ Spaceghost DJ Set: Bay Area cult figure. Sets move from '90s downtempo and ambient through r&b, g-funk and street soul into deep Chicago and New York house. 9:30 pm · Pastiche, Weserstr. 46 · €14-18 [frequency]
↳ Reverse Engineering: BUS ROT release: Algorave from Digital Selves, Cleo AD live, Safejas with a band. Software reveal, film, Q&A. 9 pm · 90mil · tickets at the door [frequency]
SATURDAY 25.07
CSD parade through the city from noon. Faraquet at Neue Zukunft in the evening, or Dumama at Atemporal. Gaswerk MOTHER DRUM in the afternoon (see above).
Faraquet (US / Dischord Records) + Painting [live]
Saturday · 8 pm · Neue Zukunft, Alt-Stralau 68 · €26
Devin Ocampo, Jeff Boswell, and Chad Molter reunite for the first time since 2008, marking twenty-five years of The View From This Tower. Sharp dynamics, unconventional structures. One of three Central European dates. Support: Painting, which Rolling Stone called the German pop avant-garde’s best new band.
Dumama Listening Session [frequency]
Saturday · 7 pm · Atemporal, Boxhagener Str. 96 · from €15
South African sonic poet Gugulethu Duma guides a deep listen through Towards an Expanse, her debut solo. Voice, uHadi (Xhosa musical bow), experimental electronics threading ancestral memory, Black sonic archives, grief. Also a fundraiser for her housing support.
MORE ON SATURDAY
↳ Unkompress Saturday Session: Sebastian Rodillo: Vinyl set at the listening bar. Soft pads, blissed-out bloops. From 9 pm · Fichtestr. 23 · free [frequency]
↳ Future3 LP Release: Debut album on Jazzego Records. Nu-jazz, broken beats, house. Live set at 10, DJs until 6. Arkaoda, Karl-Marx-Platz 16 · €17 [live]
SUNDAY 26.07
Gaswerk ROOTSONIC in the afternoon (see above). Violent Magic Orchestra at Neue Zukunft closes the three-night run. FLORA if you want ambient in nature.
Violent Magic Orchestra [live]
Sunday · 7 pm · Neue Zukunft, Alt-Stralau 68 · €12
Japanese trio. Napalm Death barging into an Autechre show, or black metal meets Kraftwerk. Latest album Death Rave features Attila Csihar, Gabber Modus Operandi, Kælan Mikla. Corpse paint, sci-fi visuals, endless strobes. They’ve played CTM, Le Guess Who?, Roadburn. Rare Berlin stop.
MORE ON SUNDAY
↳ FLORA Festival: Technologia Organica: Ambient music in nature featuring Octo Aeterna, Jacky Jeane, Toxido Mask, and Romi. Secret outdoor location via Telegram. 4 pm · free [frequency]
↳ MOTHERSHIP CYBERIA: Deconstructed club on a pirate ship. Wanton Witch, Slim Soledad, DJ Hristos, Enesi M. live. The boat stays in harbour all day. 3 pm · Mitte · €22 [sweat]
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SAVE THE DATE
We're off for two weeks. Here's what's worth leaving the house for while we're gone.
↳ Silent Green Open Lab #8: AIEL + Xingqi Liu: Ellis Papadaki’s ambient project and Xingqi Liu’s performance on gendered violence share a bill for first-timers on stage. Tue 28.07 · 8 pm · silent green · free [frequency]
↳ Mäzen XIII°: Waterside gathering with ambient listening sessions, two exhibitions curated by art collective Placebo, and natural wine from Fyt. Wed-Thu 29-30.07 · 4-11:30 pm · Spreefeld Bootshaus · free (RSVP) [gather]
↳ 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]
↳ Festival Entre Trópicos: Latin American diaspora culture across live music, open-air cinema, market, and food. The lineup is still filling in. Sat 01.08 · 1 pm · Neue Zukunft · €20-25 [gather]
↳ Groove For Good: Ron Trent, CARISTA, Sofia Kourtesis: ChariTea’s new fundraising series launches in Berlin, supporting Refuge Worldwide’s community programming. Sun 02.08 · 2 pm · Prince Charles · €10 [sweat/gather]
↳ HTRK: Berlin Atonal and silent green present the Australian duo’s HTRK playing Dub dream, memory, desire. Sun 02.08 · 8 pm · silent green · €28 [frequency]
↳ Ragana + Dis Fig: Queer black metal duo and experimental voice Dis Fig share a bill of catharsis. Spixe opens. Thu 06.08 · 8 pm · Neue Zukunft · €25 [live]
↳ Passing Signals: MR TC & Fergus Clark: New listening series from Typhoon Lady and The Burrell Connection. Music that drifts between ambient, dub, folk, jazz and left-field electronics. Thu 06.08 · 6 pm · ikii · entry by donation [frequency]
↳ Islands of Time: Niccolò Masini, Opening: Exhibition opening with Pole, JakoJako, and Nicolas Bougaïeff performing in the Kuppelhalle. Free entry to the show. Thu 06.08 · 7 pm · silent green · free (exhibition) / ticketed (concerts) [look/frequency]
↳ MAGMA Festival: Two-day open-air, second edition. Joy Orbison, Yaeji, Erika de Casier, a rare Blawan live set, Pearson Sound. Sat-Sun 08-09.08 · noon · RSO.Berlin · tba [sweat]
↳ ¥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]
↳ 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]
ESCAPE THE CITY
Three ways out of the city this summer, all of them under an hour away.
↳ Sound Biesenthal 2026: Group show using sound as a lens for memory and perception. Opens 01-02.08, runs to 30.08 · Wehrmühle, Biesenthal · weekends, noon-7 pm [look]
↳ Schlossgut Schwante: Ten-hectare sculpture park (Arp, Voigt, Rickey), restaurant, running summer program. 25 km from Berlin · Sat-Sun from noon [gather/look]
↳ PARG & ITA: Summer Feast: Two kitchens, one fire-cooked garden feast, natural wine and slushy margaritas. 16, 22, 23, 29, 30.08 · Großer Garten, Gerswalde · book ahead [gather]