BERLIN.- The 2026 edition of Berlin Municipal Galleries Art Week opened today, launching ten days of exhibitions, performances, workshops and gallery tours across the German capital. Running through October 11, the event brings together 150 artists in 44 exhibitions at 36 galleries, with all exhibitions and many accompanying events offered free of charge.
Organized by the network of Berlin’s municipal galleries, the program presents a broad cross-section of the city’s contemporary art scene, with exhibitions addressing memory, ecology, gender, colonial history, life after German reunification and changing ideas of beauty. Rather than following a single curatorial theme, Art Week emphasizes the range of approaches and perspectives represented across Berlin’s districts.
Among the exhibitions opening during the week is Silberstreif at Haus am Kleistpark, where Daniela Friebel responds to the estate of an East German particle physicist. At rk – Galerie fr zeitgenssische Kunst, Kunstverein Tiergarten presents Future Archives / Archive Futures, while the Schwartzsche Villa brings works by Isaac Chong Wai and Kthe Kollwitz into dialogue in Die Mtter. Mirijana Vrbaški’s Controlled Burn at Galerie im Tempelhof Museum turns to fire, destruction and renewal.
Other projects examine the relationship between history and contemporary life. Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien presents After Memory: Echoes in the Future Perfect Sense, while Galerie Wedding explores German-Korean histories in Mae Nan Guk Juk 매난국죽: Diasporic Memories Formed in Clay. At ZAK Zentrum fr Aktuelle Kunst, PENETRAO PACFICA – Germans in Angola looks at Germany’s colonial history through a research and art project developed by the Goethe-Institut Angola.
Art from and about the former East Germany also figures prominently. Prater Galerie presents Courage: Sisters in Spirit, while Galerie im Turm shows Dreaming: Annemirl Bauer and Brbel Bohley. Galerie Pankow is exhibiting fashion photography by Ute Mahler in The Same Sky, and Galerie Adlershof continues the group exhibition The Kids Are Not Alright! 2, focused on artists working after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Elsewhere, Kommunale Galerie Berlin marks 100 years of GEDOK with Women support Women, while studio im HOCHHAUS examines bonds between mothers and daughters. GalerieETAGE at Museum Reinickendorf addresses changing standards of beauty in MORE THAN BEAUTY, and Galerie am Krnerpark considers ecological resistance in Weirder, Louder, Taller, Uglier – Weeds Toward Wildness. Two prize exhibitions, FRACTURE at Haus am Kleistpark and the Young Art Award 2026 at Rathaus-Galerie Reinickendorf, introduce another generation of artists into the program.
The week officially begins tonight with a large OPENING PARTY at ACUD MACHT NEU in Berlin-Mitte. Performer Selin Davasse will present Biting, a work examining domesticated animals including laboratory mice, honeybees and urban pigeons, while also touching on labor, hospitality and domestication. Carlo Karacho follows with a live performance from his album Der letzte Ritt durchs Nadelhr, combining German-language lyrics with electronic music. The evening continues with a DJ set by Edna Martinez, alongside DJs from the Berlin Municipal Galleries working group.
Families and younger visitors are also a major part of the program. Under the title YOUNG, participating galleries are offering workshops for children, teenagers, preschool groups, school classes and families, introducing techniques ranging from painting and collage to sound and photography.
The event concludes on October 11 with a series of gallery TOURS beginning at 2 p.m. Two bus tours, one subway tour, one tram tour and one walking tour will each visit four to five galleries, with directors, curators and artists introducing the exhibitions and the work of Berlin’s municipal gallery network.
Berlin Municipal Galleries Art Week 2026 runs from October 2 through October 11 at venues throughout Berlin. The detailed program is available through the Kommunale Galerien Berlin website.
