Thrilling, demanding, grotesque and theatrical: what to see at Berlin Gallery Weekend

Berlin Gallery Weekend 2025 arrives this May with renewed creative energy, reaffirming the city’s position as a global nexus for contemporary art. Against the backdrop of Berlin’s ever-evolving cultural landscape, and amid financial cuts affecting many programmes that have made the city attractive for artists in the first place, Gallery Weekend offers a moment of shared focus.

Despite the rising costs and perennial buzz about other cities vying to be the 'New Berlin,' BGW director Antonia Ruder cuts through the noise: 'I would say that what matters is the density of the artists living here. International stars such as Monica Bonvicini, Anne Imhof, and Olafur Eliasson – all of whom are participating this year – live and work here.' It’s this critical mass of creative minds that continues to define Berlin’s gravitational pull. Now in her second year at the helm, Ruder is on a mission to further professionalise the much-emulated format first launched by Berlin gallerists over two decades ago. This year, that vision takes shape through a new podcast pairing Berlin’s art writers with the artists generating buzz, and a growing network of VIP ambassadors aimed at drawing more visitors to the city – particularly from this year’s target region: Asia.

This year, alongside more than 50 participating galleries, West Berlin’s storied luxury department store KaDeWe is presenting a 24/7 pop-up exhibition in its display windows, bringing contemporary art to the high-volume footfall of the high-street, with Berlin-based artists including Saâdane Afif, Karin Sander, or Alexandra Bircken, to name a few. Meanwhile, Berlin’s institutions are stepping up with unmissable exhibitions—most notably a double-header Yoko Ono retrospective split between the Neue Nationalgalerie and Gropius Bau. On Friday, May 2, in a night that’s already sold out, Berlin fixture and performer Peaches will restage Ono’s legendary Cut Piece, adding a charged, contemporary layer to the historic work.

As the first project under Hamburger Bahnhof’s new partnership with the Chanel Culture Fund, Klára Hosnedlová’s embrace takes over the museum’s vast hall with unapologetic scale and style, transforming it into a hauntingly surreal environment. On view until October 26, 2025, the installation features nine-metre-high woven tapestries, embroidered sculptural panels, cast-glass forms, concrete slabs, and site-specific objects arranged in theatrical, almost sacred configurations. Drawing from Brutalist architecture and the domestic aesthetics of post-Soviet interiors, Hosnedlová explores the fragility of utopia, the weight of memory, and the textures of survival. Hosnedlová‘s first institutional show encapsulates Chanel Commission’s mission: backing high-impact, materially rich work that pushes boundaries.

Amongst the highlights on the official program is Berlin’s newest art space, Die Tankstelle, opening its doors in a restored 1950s gas station in Schöneberg—now home to a collaboration between Pace Gallery and Galerie Judin (the space also includes a café-bookshop by Die ZEIT.) Its inaugural programming sets a bold tone: Pace presents Reverse Alchemy, featuring works on paper by Jean Dubuffet, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Robert Nava. The exhibition explores the concept of transforming high art back into raw, primal expression – a nod to Dubuffet’s art brut ethos. Simultaneously, Galerie Judin unveils a Tom of Finland retrospective, spotlighting the artist’s iconic, hyper-stylised depictions of queer masculinity.

Navigating over 50 galleries during Berlin Gallery Weekend is thrilling but demanding. With shows spread from Schöneberg’s sleek spaces to Kreuzberg and Charlottenburg’s hidden gems, the challenge lies in both logistics and curation. Notably, many highlights come courtesy of women and women-identifying artists. Anne Imhof returns to Galerie Buchholz with Cold Hope, a series of large paintings based on film stills, digitally manipulated and layered with moiré effects. Developed alongside her recent blockbuster New York performance DOOM: House of Hope—a sprawling, operatic piece blending choreography, sound, and live action in shifting tableaux—the show translates her visceral, time-based practice into a more abstract, contemplative realm.

Marianna Simnett presents Charades at Galerie Société—a multi-layered exhibition exploring ritual, and performative deception. The show features new video works, sculptures, and oil paintings, a medium that the artist has only recently started working with, that blur the line between masquerade and myth. Central to the exhibition is Leda Was a Swan, a striking video piece reimagining the ancient tale of Zeus and Leda through a contemporary feminist lens. With her signature mix of the grotesque and the theatrical, Simnett confronts societal norms and bodily politics.

For its Gallery Weekend debut, NOME presents UNCENSORED by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, following her 2024 solo show at LAS. Blending video, sound, drawing, and sculpture, her work confronts cultural repression and emotional avoidance. Using elements of horror and surrealism, Brathwaite-Shirley invites viewers into raw, disquieting encounters.

Sprüth Magers unveils Retinal Rivalry, a cinematic tour de force by Cyprien Gaillard. Shot in razor-sharp ultra-HD 3D at 120 frames per second, the film plunges viewers into a disorienting, almost hallucinatory experience. From the dizzying excess of Oktoberfest’s final hours to the ghostly remnants of Roman Cologne, Gaillard collapses time and space into a hypnotic meditation on urban spectacle, decay, and the haunting persistence of history. It’s a definitive must-see, no matter how long the queues that are likely to form outside the space.

Venturing beyond the official Gallery Weekend program is both inevitable and deeply rewarding. In Mitte, Mountains gallery presents Luftbrücke, a moving solo exhibition dedicated to the late Filipino artist David Medalla. Curated with his partner Adam Nankervis, the show spans Medalla’s iconic Bubble Machines, his participatory piece A Stitch in Time, neon sculptures, rare paintings, and archival materials. Anchored by his 1997–98 DAAD residency in Berlin, Luftbrücke connects Medalla’s nomadic, communal practice with the city’s layered histories—art as both personal journey and collective lifeline. It’s a fitting tribute in a city that, despite recurring declarations of its demise, continues to lure artists with its promise of reinvention and resonance.

Berlin Gallery Weekend is 2- 4 May 2025