29 April 2025 |
10’s Arts Editor Milly Burroughs shares her top picks for Berlin’s first city-wide art event of the year
Artefacts of the German art landscape have made headlines around the world in recent months, from Nan Goldin’s commanding critique of institutional censorship and the Berlin government’s crippling culture funding cuts, to Anne Imhof’s critically-debated but undeniably impactful presence in New York City.
As the 21st edition of Gallery Weekend Berlin nears — taking place May 2 – 4, with hundreds of on and off-programme exhibitions and events on the agenda — the city’s suddenly blooming streets are fertile ground for important conversations around expression, practice and the convergence of politics, criticism and art.
You can find details of the official programme here, but definitely don’t miss out on off-programme favourites such as Sellerie Weekend, which champion emerging artists and DIY projects concurrently. Here are 10 must-see shows you should know about.
Anne Imhof at Galerie Buchholz
Image credit: Anne Imhof, Romeo, 2025, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Galerie Buchholz
The international world-building of German artist Anne Imhof continues with Cold Hope, her fourth solo exhibition at Galerie Buchholz. Offering a new spread of large-format paintings — the painterly counterpart to her much-dissected New York performance piece, Doom – House of Hope — this new body of work is an opportunity to decide if Imhof lives up to her hype.
Cyprien Gaillard at Sprüth Magers
Image credit: Cyprien Gaillard, Retinal Rivalry (still), 2024. 3D motion picture, DCI DCP, dual 4k projection at 120fps, 2 Channel Audio, 29:03 minutes. © Cyprien Gaillard. Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers and Gladstone Gallery
From the last day of Oktoberfest to the expansive Roman ruins found in a 1970s parking area beneath the Cologne Cathedral, film, photography and installation artist Cyprien Gaillard’s Retinal Rivalry — presented by Sprüth Magers, whose other artists include trailblazers Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer and Gilbert & George — continues an exploration of “stereoscopic motion pictures for their sculptural and psychedelic potential”.
Frank Auerbach at Galerie Michael Werner
Image credit: Frank Auerbach, Self Portrait, 2024. Acrylic on board. 51 x 45.5 cm. Courtesy Frankie Rossi Art Projects © The Estate of Frank Auerbach
In the first exhibition to take place following his death at the age of 93, the work of German-born British painter Frank Auerbach posthumously returns to Berlin for a retrospective spanning six decades of work. The show, presented by Galerie Michael Werner, is the first Auerbach’s to take place in the city since he left in 1939, when his parents were able to spare him from Nazi persecution. Expect uncompromising intensity and unapologetically personal depictions of the human condition.
New Blockheads at BQ
Image credit: Oleg Khvostov, ME MYSELF / CENTRAL RUSSIAN ELEVATED STUPIDITY PROJECT Performance Exhibition: The Brotherhood of New Blockheads and Photographic Art, Anatomy of Contemporary Art in Saint Petersburg Art Festival Art-kollegiya Gallery, Saint Petersburg 19–20 March 1998. Photo: Alexander Lyashko
Opening during Gallery Weekend Berlin, BQ presents The Brotherhood of New Blockheads (1996-2022). This marks the first time a selection of around 25 works by St. Petersburg-based performance group New Blockheads has been shown in Germany. The enigmatic collective was active from 1996 until as recently as 2002, but its art remains largely undiscovered both in the West and throughout Russia.
Serban Savu at Galeria Plan B
Image credit: Serban Savu, Unknown Gods, 2025, oil on canvas, 153 x 195 cm. Courtesy the artist and Plan B Cluj, Berlin
Following his presentation at the divisive 2024 Venice Biennale, Romanian artist Serban Savu’s sixth solo exhibition with Galeria Plan B is to be unveiled during Gallery Weekend Berlin. Golden Ages sees Savu continue his investigation of history and art history through painting, revisiting and reinterpreting themes such as myths, ruins, and hunting.
Diane Severin Nguyen at Galerie Molitor
Image credit: Diane Severin Nguyen, not yet titled Spring Snow and not yet titled Spring Clothes, 2025. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Molitor, Berlin
Open since Autumn 2022, relative newcomer Galerie Molitor will present a new body of work by Californian artist Diane Severin Nguyen during Gallery Weekend Berlin. Employing video, photography and sculpture, Nguyen’s mixed-media approach will “transform the gallery into a universe between presence and disappearance, continuity and rupture”.
Bernd & Hilla Becher at Konrad Fischer Galerie
Image credit: Bernd & Hilla Becher, Wasserturm, Amermont, Meurthe-et-Moselle, F. 1979 © Estate Bernd & Hilla Becher. Photo: Studio Kukulies
Leading to the development of a systematic documentation format that adds infrastructure to the art of image making, Bernd & Hilla Becher first began capturing architectural objects in black and white photographs during the 1960s. Following a major retrospective of the pair’s images at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2022, and later at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Konrad Fischer Galerie will now present a comprehensive exhibition of their works as part of Gallery Weekend Berlin.
Hudinilson Jr. at KOW
Image credit: Hudinilson Jr.,Narcisse, Exercício de Me Ver II, 1982, documentation of the performance, detail, courtesy of the Estate of Hudinilson Jr. and KOW, Berlin
Known for its work with artists engaged with the realities of living, KOW will present an exhibition of work by Brazilian artist Hudinilson Jr. during Berlin Gallery Weekend. As one of Latin America’s most influential underground figures, the artist’s work views bodily forms through a queer lens, guiding the viewer through physical interactions that sit at the intersection of the intimate and the public sphere.
Spyros Rennt at Rosegarden
Image credit: Spyros Rennt Afterhours kiss II, 2018. © Spyros Rennt.
An off-programme must-see, Berlin-based photographer and friend of 10 Magazine Spyros Rennt will present his largest exhibition to date at Rosegarden, a new Berlin space conceived by Frontrose. The exhibition is the culmination of eight years of production and four photo books, investigating intimacy through endless interpretation.
Klára Hosnedlová at Hamburger Bahnhof
Image credit: Klára Hosnedlová, CHANEL Commission: Klára Hosnedlová. embrace, 2025, installation view Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, 1.5. – 26.10.2025 © Courtesy Artist, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, White Cube / Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Zdeněk Porcal – Studio Flusser
Inhabiting the cavernous and Hamburger Bahnhof hall, Czech artist Klára Hosnedlová’s monumental installation for the CHANEL Commission opens just in time for Gallery Weekend Berlin, exploring themes of home, utopia, and everyday life within differing political systems. The historic hall is known for its hyper-sensory, large-scale installations, with Hosnedlová’s contribution following acclaimed projects by Katharina Grosse and Eva Fabregas.
