BERLIN.- The year’s most striking achievements in poster design are now on view at Berlin’s Kulturforum, where the exhibition 100 Best Posters 25 Germany Austria Switzerland has opened with a lively look at the newest directions in contemporary graphic design.

Presented by the Art Library of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in cooperation with 100 Beste Plakate e. V., the special presentation runs through July 5, 2026, bringing together the winning designs from the 2025 edition of the long-running competition. Admission is free.



This year marks the 25th anniversary of the “100 Best Posters D A CH” competition, which was reestablished in 2001 as a collaboration between Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Since 2008, the Art Library of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin has served as the organizing partner for the first presentation of the annual winning selection in the German capital.

The 2026 edition once again drew strong participation. A total of 676 studios and designers submitted 2,297 individual posters and poster series from the previous year. Cultural posters are especially well represented, confirming the format’s continued vitality in museums, theaters, festivals, social campaigns and independent design practice.

The selection was made by an international jury made up of designers Enrico Bravi from Vienna, Malte Martin from Paris, Sascia Reibel from Berlin, Sven Tillack from Stuttgart and Annik Troxler from Riehen near Basel. Together, they selected 30 works from Germany, 62 from Switzerland and 8 from Austria, ranging from commissioned projects to student work.





The winning posters reveal a confident year for graphic design. Some works make their impact through minimalist typography and stark black-and-white compositions, while others embrace bold images, expressive color and large visual gestures. Together, they suggest a field that remains both formally inventive and deeply engaged with the world around it.

This year’s jury also placed particular emphasis on posters with social and political urgency. Many of the selected designs use strong lettering, vivid colors and direct visual language to call for change, resistance, human dignity and queer rights. Posters address solidarity, collective action, climate concerns, alternatives to capitalism and new ways of imagining public life.

Among the themes highlighted are calls for “solidarity instead of agitation,” images that translate social democratic ideals into delicate lace-like forms, and a flower made of hands that evokes the beauty of collective human touch. Other posters, including works with titles such as Buy Buy Culture, Degrowth and keep cool, show how poster design continues to function as a sharp carrier of political and cultural messages.

The exhibition also draws attention to the rich material world behind contemporary poster-making. Although posters circulate widely in digital form, many of the winning works are rooted in analog experiments and hands-on processes. The range includes stroboscopic images made with olive oil, dirt and chalk; finger writing in ink; pen-plotter techniques; and a poster series that uses cress seeds to transform climate goals into a living image.

Printing methods also play a central role. Risograph and screen printing appear alongside kraft paper, glossy varnishes and complex collages. For one series created for Salon d’Amour, photographic collages of textile performance masks became the foundation for the poster motifs. The result is an exhibition in which graphic design moves confidently into the territory of artistic practice.

Following its presentation at the Kulturforum, the exhibition will travel to venues in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Korea and other countries. A yearbook, 100 Best Posters 25 D A CH, is being published by Slanted Publishers. Both the book and the exhibition’s visual identity were designed by Ira Ivanova and Lou Hillereau in Berlin.

Two public programs accompany the exhibition at the Kulturforum. On June 19, 2026, visitors can join 100 Best Posters 25 – Meet the Designers, a conversational tour with graphic designers whose works were selected for the show. On July 1, 2026, the program Up Close! Graphic Design by cyan since 1992 will feature an evening conversation with Daniela Haufe and Detlef Fiedler. Both events begin at 6 p.m. and are free of charge.

With its mix of visual experimentation, social commentary and technical range, 100 Best Posters 25 shows that the poster remains far more than a printed announcement. In the hands of today’s designers, it continues to be a public voice — immediate, inventive and impossible to ignore.