The Next Day Berlin: Special Gallery Weekend
A Tour Guide to Enjoy Gallery Weekend by Neighborhood
Hi,
Here are over 440 art galleries in Berlin, and Gallery Weekend Berlin features around 55 galleries with special programs and extended opening hours for this weekend. However, even those not officially participating are also opening exhibitions and operating during the same hours.
Feeling like you're missing out? Wondering where to go and what to see?
I've explored the full program and put together a mini guide by neighborhood. But don't limit yourself to it; it's just one way to enjoy the journey and uncover some hidden gems along the way.
I hope you find it useful and enjoy your time exploring. I’m focusing on the official galleries, but I recommend exploring the Sellerie Weekend if you want to visit independent art spaces.
Save the date: on May 12th, we'll host our first event at my favorite restaurant in Prenzlauer Berg. Stay tuned!🍸
Hope to see you around. Cheer!
Lalai
THURSDAY
The Gallery Weekend officially starts on Friday, but some events are popping up today:
Alexandra Pirici: Attune, a new site-specific installation with live action and music at the Hamburger Bahnhof’s Historic Hall. The live-action will take place from 7:30 pm to 10 pm during the opening on Thursday. Opening: 25.04, 7 pm.
Public talk between Klaus Biesenbach and the artist Mark Grotjahn at Neue Nationalgalerie, 5 pm. The event is part of Gallery Weekend Berlin and coincides with "Mark Grotjahn: Kitchens” at Galerie Max Hetzler opening. Go earlier and take advantage of free admission to all exhibitions between 4 and 8 pm.
Elizaveta Porodina - ‘Un/Masked’: 6 - 11 pm at Fotografiska. To complement Thursday's opening, Elizaveta Porodina has a conversation with psychologist Lili Vásquez Mock.
You can wrap up the day at the party hosted by BAM. They're bringing Munich's Studio and Label, Public Possession, for a get-together and a celebration in Berlin. Starting at 11 PM, Public Possession's in-house DJ lineup will take over Studio 11/11.
FRIDAY: 6 - 9 pm
Schönenberg
Potsdamer Strasse is one of the hotspots for art galleries during Gallery Weekend, with the most exhibitions and events packed into one area:
My highlights, all of them open this Friday from 6 until 9 pm:
Barbara Wien: "Remains Remembering" by Dan Lie features site-specific installations characterized by a reciprocal relationship. Developments in drawings influence sculpture forms, and vice versa. Access to a large-scale studio enables simultaneous work on multiple drawings and sculptures.
Esther Schipper opens two exhibitions during Gallery Weekend: Julius von Bismarck's "Zwei Wölfinnen," questioning humanity's separation from nature with sculptures of she-wolves, and Ann Veronica Janssens' "spring show," presenting luminous works exploring perception transience through light and color. The gallery hosts a talk with Julius von Bismarck on Sunday, at 2 pm (in English).
In the same courtyard, you find two more great art galleries:
Galerie Judin: "Ohne Lippen sind die Zähne kalt" by Cornelia Schleime, German painting's Grande Dame, blends reality and fantasy, echoing Romantic traditions.
Galerie Max Hetzler: Kitchen Drawings by Mark Grotjahn an exhibition of large-scale butterfly drawings.
Galerie Molitor: Trouble Everyday by Lisa Jo. Lisa Jo's compositions teeter on collapse, capturing suspended moments before the chaos. "Trouble Every Day" showcases her idiosyncratic abstraction through new oil paintings on linen.
ChertLüdde presents two exhibitions, one of them is "Los Jóvenes Olvidaron sus Canciones" by Gabriel Chaile, an artist whom I'm a big fan of. The second is "The Desire to Dance with Someone Who Is Not Here" by Sofia Salazar Rosales.
The map for this tour is here.
*One of the hottest events today might be the 'Glow 光' opening by Wenxin Zheng and Anahita Sadighi, in Charlottenburg, from 7 to 9 pm. The after party happens at The Loft, Prinzestrasse 82.a.
SATURDAY: 11 am - 7 pm
Morning: Mitte Nord
Mitte Nord, including Moabit, features 12 art galleries in the program. We recommend using a bike to facilitate the tour:
Capitain Petzel hosts the exhibition 'f o r a d e c a s a' with an eight-part complex of work by the Chinese painter Xie Nanxing. While you're here, visit the Plan B which will present the exhibition 'Thirst for Stillness' by Mircea Cantor, showcasing installations, videos, paintings, and drawings.
BQ presents 'Arrival of the Swifts', a solo exhibition by photographer Jochen Lempert.
neugerriemschneider is presenting 'o perde' by Renata Lucas; 'of stones and lake' by Andreas Eriksson, both at Linienstrasse; and 'untitled 2024 (the sea you see is not what others see the sea you see is not what other see)' by Rirkrit Tiravanija at Christinenstrasse.
Galerie Neu is presenting one of the exhibitions I'm most excited to visit: 'We are many' by the German artist Cosima von Bonin, who describes her artistic practice and challenges traditional notions of authorship.
Sprüth Magers is opening 'territory', a group show dedicated exclusively to female Asian perspectives for the first time. The five artists Mire Lee, Liu Yujia, Gala Porras-Kim, Tan Jing, and Zhang Ruyi question the boundaries of the body, disgust, and morality as the limitations of language, history, and memory.
Opposite Monbijou Park, you'll discover König Gallery's new space inside the Hotel Telegraphenamt. The exhibition features Agnes Questionmark's latest show: 'THE UNBORN PATIENT'.
The map for this tour is here.
Afternoon: Mitte Süd
This tour includes the southern part of Mitte and Kreuzberg:
The gallery Persons Projects presents the beautiful exhibition 'Dominik Lejman | Step Aside.' It’s one of my favorites of this season.
The next door, KOW brings Clemens von Wedemeyer’s exhibition with videos, short films, and multi-channel installations under the title 'Social Geometry, Surface Composition'.
Soy Capitan moved to a spacious new location next door, at Lindenstrasse 34, where you can now enjoy 'textiles' by Reinhard Voigt.
Galerie Barbara Thumm presents works by the Cuban artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons, exploring migration, race, gender, diaspora, spirituality, and memory spanning four decades. In the same area, you'll find carlier | gebauer gallery presenting Iman Issa with the exhibition 'Photograph—(Un)Like (M)Any Other(s)'.
Galerie Thomas Schulte opens the exhibition 'New Edingurgh Encyclopedia, 1825' by Matt Mullican. If you are an enthusiast in drawing and printing, don‘t miss this show.
Klemm’s inaugurates their new space on Leipziger Strasse with the exhibition 'Streitbildhauerei', where artist Jonas Roßmeißl explores the image economies surrounding us, as well as the concepts of publicity, identity, and intimacy. Next door, at Sweetwater, you'll find works by artist Constantin Thun.
König Galerie opens two new exhibitions in its beautiful Brutalist building: Erwin Wurm occupies the nave of the old church with 'Phantoms', while artist Emily Weiner fills the ground floor with her colorful 11 oil-on-linen works in 'TIME AND TIDE'.
If you still have energy, you can head to the gallery Trautwein Herleth (Barbara Weiss) to close out the day with Sung Tieu's exhibition 'Perfect Standard', where the artist presents a new body of work examining standardization and measurability as tools for control, surveillance, and extraction.
You find here the map for this tour.
I recommend three lovely natural wine bars nearby where you can relax, listen to music, drink, and enjoy some snacks: Sway, Sorrel or Le Balto.
*By the way, if you wake up on Saturday looking for a day outdoors close to nature, you can leave Berlin and head to Wehrmuehle in Biesenthal, where there's an exhibition opening by Yulia Mahr. Admission is free, and you can enjoy a brunch and bubbles on the beautiful mansion lawn. They will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 6 pm.
SUNDAY: 11 am - 6 pm
Charlottenburg
I don’t know about you, but I anticipate being pretty exhausted on Sunday after the art marathon. However, there are four exhibitions nearby that you shouldn't miss:
Meyer Rieger presents 'Lieber Nebelkopf, die Blaue Brücke is open' by Argentine artist Santiago de Paoli. His paintings convey temperature, weight, and material composition, evoking a reality felt rather than described.
Galerie Buchholz with 'Summer Storm Rain Drops Freeze Frame' by Wolfgang Tillmans. This exhibition showcases sculptural displays on building-site planks, emphasizing materiality. Coinciding with the exhibition is the release of Tillmans's album "Build From Here," reflecting on joy, heartbreak, and hope.
Societé opens the solo exhibition 'Contact' by Trisha Baga, along with a solo exhibition honoring the late conceptual artist Helen Chadwick. Known as one of the most influential figures in British contemporary art, Chadwick's groundbreaking work explored sexuality, identity, and the body with visceral intensity.
Galerie Max Hetzler presents 'Dark Yet', featuring new works by Sean Scully. He blends personal influences with European and American abstraction, crafting vast pieces with delicate balance and vulnerability. The gallery also hosts the exhibition 'Kitchens' by Mark Grotjahn.
You can check out the map for this tour here.
The complete maps for each neighborhood are available here:
Have a nice weekend. ♡