Featured Events in Berlin in May 2025 (May Updated)

Cold Hope, Anne Imhof’s fourth solo exhibition at Galerie Buchholz, presents a group of new large format paintings. The works are based on film stills the artist photographed on a screen, inciting blurs, veils, and wave-like pixel structures in a moiré effect. The resulting images are digitally reworked and then translated into paintings in oil on canvas. Through multiple instances of translation, these images circulate across diverse surfaces and techniques of representation. In these transfers and translations, the paintings shift toward abstraction, altering the conditions of their viewing and the structures of attention in which they exist.

From spring 2025, the Gropius Bau will present a comprehensive solo exhibition celebrating the groundbreaking and influential work of artist and activist Yoko Ono. Spanning seven decades of the artist’s powerful, multidisciplinary practice from the mid-1950s to now, YOKO ONO: MUSIC OF THE MIND will trace the development of her innovative work and its enduring impact on contemporary culture. The exhibition brings together over 200 works including instruction pieces and scores, installations, films, music and photography, revealing a radical approach to language, art and participation that continues to speak to the present moment.

The International Spy Museum is proud to host this official exhibition of iconic vehicles, all used on-screen by 007 and his many allies and adversaries. While James Bond is a fictional character, he embodies the spirit of many real spies in this museum. These men and women, from around the world, were inspired by over six decades of the Bond film franchise and its enduring cultural influence. Bond In Motion is a celebration of six decades of 007 vehicles. The exhibition features 17 iconic pieces from the EON Productions Archive and the Ian Fleming Foundation. Props, models scale and clips from the films are also on show alongside cars, motorcycles, submarines, and more from the Q Branch garage.

+++ ST. BEAUFORT LIVE IN BERLIN +++ For the first time in three years, St. Beaufort returns to stage in Berlin. With new and old songs and in their new duo line-up, they can't wait to see you again, and enjoy a night of acoustic music with you. Please note: this is the band's first time at Bar Bobu in Friedrichshain. It's a cosy, intimate venue - but with limited space. We recommend getting your tickets as early as possible to save your spot. Information Source: Blue Whale Records | eventbrite

The Berlinische Galerie has devoted over 1000 square metres to presenting its collection. Waiting to be discovered among the roughly 250 works on show are paintings, prints, photographs, architecture and archive materials rarely or never displayed before. Walking around this exhibition is like time travel and takes visitors through Berlin in 17 chapters: the Kaiser’s era, the Weimar Republic, the Nazi dictatorship, the new beginnings after 1945, Cold War in the divided city, and the counter-cultures and unconventional lifestyles that evolved in East and West under the shadow of the Wall. In East Berlin, an alternative art community developed from the late 1970s. In West Berlin from the late 1970s, aggressive art by the “Neue Wilden” placed the divided city back in the international limelight.

Hosted in the iconic Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Klára Hosnedlová's exhibition blends sculpture, performance and mixed media to create a uniquely sensory experience. Running from 25 April to 26 October 2025, this art showcase invites visitors to engage with history, reflect on the present and dream of the future.

Berlin becomes hotspot of the pizza world – from May 23 to 25, the Napoleon complex in Friedrichshain will become the centre of the international pizza scene. The Berlin Pizza Festival 2025 is a spectacular event in the capital and admission is free! Culinary excellence, creative diversity and a festive atmosphere come together in one weekend.

LA FIESTA DE LA SALSA LEGENDARIA Das SALSA-LIVE-EVENT in der Mitte von Berlin! LIVE MUSIK von CONEXIÓN feat. Mayelis, tanzen ohne Ende, Cocktails und After-Show-Party! Fantastische DJ-Sets von DJ FISMO Kuba und Salsa-Tanzanleitung zu Beginn mit Fismo. SALSA, SON CUBANO, CHA CHA CHÁ, TIMBA, REGGAETON...! Ab 19:30 h Einlass Ab 20:00 h Tanzanleitung mit Fismo Ab 21:00 h Live Musik von CONEXIÓN und heiße Musik zum Tanzen von DJ FISMO Kuba 100% Live __________________________________ EN ESPAÑOL ¡LA FIESTA DE LA SALSA LEGENDARIA ! SALSA - LIVE y CALIENTE CONEXIÓN - Salsa Live Band feat Mayelis, DJ Sets y clase de baile con DJ Fismo Kuba 19:30 h: Entrada 20:00 h: Clase de baile con Fismo 21:00 h: Música en vivo de CONEXIÓN feat. Mayelis y luego música caliente de DJ Fismo Kuba para bailar. 100% en vivo! Information Source: Pfefferwerk Events | Pfefferberg Haus 13 | eventbrite

LAS Art Foundation is pleased to present Pollinator Pathmaker, a living artwork and participatory project conceived by artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg. This impactful initiative in interspecies art uses algorithmic technology to generate planting schemes for gardens, computed to support the greatest diversity of pollinating insects possible. It signals a shift toward the post-anthropocentric thinking necessary to face the current climate and biodiversity crises, and toward the non-human aesthetics and experimental formats that pave the way. Ambitious and future-minded, it is exemplary of how art can act as a driver for change, and offer new perspectives on our shared planet. Growing in the forecourt of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, the LAS- commissioned garden will be the first edition outside of the UK. LAS has committed to amplifying Pollinator Pathmaker’s impact by undertaking an extensive public campaign, which calls upon local communities, hobby gardeners and activists to get involved in pollinator protection by planting their own version of the artwork – what the artist refers to as DIY Editions – via Ginsberg’s free online tool: www.pollinator.art. Responding to the alarming decline in pollinator populations in recent decades, Ginsberg has worked with horticulturalists, pollinator experts and an AI scientist to devise an algorithmic tool that designs bespoke gardens for pollinating insects. Supported by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, the LAS Edition will be customised for Continental Europe, and will feature more than 7,000 plants of 80 different varieties, planted over a 722-square-metre plot.

Marking twenty years since artist, writer and performer Vaginal Davis made Berlin her home, Gropius Bau presents the first comprehensive solo exhibition of her work in Germany. In her expansive oeuvre, punk meets glamour, queer activism meets Black counter-culture and resistance meets desire. Vaginal Davis: Fabelhaftes Produkt features large-scale installations, paintings, video and film works, zines, writing, music and performances, offering an overview of Davis’ practice and artistic collaborations. In the exhibition, the Berlin-based art collective CHEAP presents the installation Choose Mutation, with photographs by Annette Frick. Fabelhaftes Produkt invites you into the universe of Vaginal Davis, populated by literary heroines, mythical figures and real icons.

YOKO ONO: DREAM TOGETHER at Neue Nationalgalerie is an exhibition featuring works from across Ono’s groundbreaking career. The exhibition invites viewers to move beyond passive observation and engage in active participation – both physically and mentally. Often beginning on an individual level, these actions evolve into broader collective efforts, demonstrating the transformative power of communal actions in working toward peace and imagining a different world. The works invite collective actions of repair, healing, cleaning, mending, wishing, imagining, and dreaming. Before entering the exhibition, visitors are invited to engage in a moment of self-reflection through Cleaning Piece (1996). Piles of local river stones are arranged, prompting visitors to reflect on their joys and sorrows. This is followed with instructions to fold paper cranes for peace, gradually filling the exhibition space. In Mend Piece (1966), visitors take part in an act of repair, piecing together broken ceramic cups and “mending with wisdom and love.” The exhibitions central installation, Play It By Trust (1966/1991), features a large chess table where up to 20 players can simultaneously engage in the nearly impossible act of playing with all white chess pieces, challenging them to “play as long as you remember where all your pieces are.”

This special exhibition, presented in the staircase hall of the Neues Museum, offers a dialogue on the meaning of time, mortality and the connection between past and present. Contemporary art meets historical space, refers to ancient models and offers a modern adaptation of the classical reception of the myth of the Dioscuri, who walk eternally between death and life.

Hotel Peacock Blue Varieté Immerse yourself in the world of 'Hotel Peacock Blue' - a theatrical cabaret piece that brings to life the whimsical encounters at an eccentric hotel. Experience the captivating story of bellhop Enjo Flint as he juggles personal concerns with quirky guests including the Muti Sanatarosa, Jacky Lu, Eva Clumsy and Marta Karta. Laugh, be surprised, and root for them - be a guest at the hotel, too, and be enchanted by this unique variety show full of sparking performances. Information Source: hullabaloo cabaret | eventbrite

Kunst als Auflösung – Der Fall ins Ungewisse ARTVERS.UNDERGROUND ist ein Experiment mit Wahrnehmung. Die Ausstellung zieht immer tiefer in eine Welt, in der Kunst nicht mehr nur gesehen, sondern erlebt wird. In 4 Ebenen wird jede Ebene ein Schritt weiter in eine andere Realität – bis am Ende nur noch das Unfassbare bleibt. Ebene 1: Vorhof – Willkommen im Paradies. Der Raum ist unerwartet, aber greifbar. Er empfängt, lädt ein zum Verweilen und ist der Abgang zu den nächsten Ebenen. Ebene 2: Die Welt, wie wir sie kennen – Fine Art & klassische Ausdrucksformen Die erste Ebene zeigt Kunst in ihrer vertrauten Form: Malerei, Zeichnung, Fotografie – Werke, die sich noch an den Rahmen klassischer Kunst halten. Hier beginnt die Reise geordnet und fassbar. Ebene 3: Die Grenzen verschwimmen – Skulptur & Video In der zweiten Ebene beginnt die Auflösung: Skulpturen ragen in den Raum, Videos flimmern, Körper und Formen lösen sich auf. Die Realität beginnt zu wanken, Perspektiven verzerren sich, langsam geht der Halt an einer eindeutigen Realität verloren. Ebene 4: Reines Erleben – Licht, Klang, Immersion Die dritte Ebene ist kein Ort mehr für klassische Kunst – hier gibt es nur noch Licht, Geräusche, Atmosphäre. Formen und Farben verschmelzen zu einer raumgreifenden Erfahrung. Der Mensch ist nicht mehr Betrachter, sondern Teil des Erlebnisses. Die Dimension verschwimmt in der Tiefe des Ortes. Information Source: Artverse.Berlin | eventbrite

Welcome to Time to Shine, your destination for all things bold and unapologetic. Whether you’re stepping out solo, with a partner, or surrounded by your pleasure posse, this is the space where you’re free to embrace your most authentic self. Dress in the finest latex, the smoothest leather, or anything that sets your spirit alight. Here, self-expression is honored, and every story is shared with raw honesty and wit. Hosted by two award-winning comedians, masters of their craft with over 20 years of experience between the London and NYC stand-up scenes, now calling Berlin home, Time to Shine is a celebration of kink, humor, and community. Created by and for kinksters, sex workers, and fetishists, this is a heartfelt exploration of a lifestyle often misunderstood. Whether you’re immersed in the scene or simply curious, we welcome you to a judgment-free space where vulnerability, passion, and power take center stage. In our world, kink isn’t a punchline—but that doesn’t mean it can’t be funny. Information Source: Time To Shine | eventbrite

The exhibition is aimed at gamers of all ages, but also at visitors who have little experience with computer games. The fact that computer games have developed into a leading medium is no longer a daring thesis. The social and aesthetic significance of the interactive and multimedia medium can no longer be overlooked. The computer game has freed itself from its origins as a laboratory experiment and toy and has become "the" medium of digital society, somewhere between pop culture, entertainment and art. With the opening of the exhibition »The World of Games« in the fall of 1997, the ZKM was one of the first art institutions worldwide to give video game culture a permanent public platform in an art context. Since then, the ZKM has repeatedly reshaped the presentation of games in a series of different exhibitions.

Already 2,000 years ago, the emperors of China had portraits of loyal officials and generals made in order to display them in their palaces. This presentation features depictions of meritorious officers that the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736–1795) had commissioned for their display in the hall of fame Ziguangge to demonstrate his power and legitimacy. In the 20th century they became spoils of war not one but two times. Located adjacent to the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Ziguangge is a two-storey pavilion. During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736 – 1795), the building was a venue for military rituals and banquets and housed paintings with battle scenes of the imperial military campaigns and portraits of meritorious officers.

The Gemäldegalerie is showcasing 60 paintings from the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odesa, the famous port city in the south of Ukraine that has in recent years been ravaged by war. The artworks in question were evacuated from the city before the onset of war and transferred to safety in Berlin, where they will be brought into dialogue with paintings from the collections of Berlin’s museums. The large-scale special exhibition, which follows on from a small preview presentation in the spring of 2024, is an extraordinary collaborative project funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

Ayoung Kim’s (b. 1979 in Seoul, Korea) first solo exhibition in a German museum spans the most recent years of her artistic practice and explores concepts of time, reality, belonging, and queerness. Using Artificial Intelligence, video, game simulations, and sculpture, Ayoung Kim creates expansive fictional universes governed by their own temporal and spatial laws. Her works are linked by speculative narratives rooted in reality, and viewers become both spectators and first-person players, shaping the story from their perspective.

The Berlin Kupferstichkabinett is home to an impressive collection of modern art, including works by Edvard Munch, Käthe Kollwitz and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. But what is less widely known is that the artists of Der Blaue Reiter also left behind a remarkable legacy of their own. As such, the Kupferstichkabinett is for the very first time dedicating a comprehensive exhibition to the art of Der Blaue Reiter, where it will showcase the museum’s holdings on the basis of 90 artworks organised according to specific themes. These will be complemeneted by a selection of works on loan from the Kunstbibliothek, the Museum Europäischer Kulturen and the Neue Nationalgalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, as well from private Berlin collections.

Images of plants, flowers and birds are besides landscapes and figures among the most popular motifs in painting and graphic arts from Japan. These motifs were also frequently employed as decoration in the design of ceramics, lacquerware and other utensils. Certain blossoms, plants and birds indicate the season and combinations of several elements may hint at the frequent change and passing of time. The tension between regular change and cyclical repetition is particularly palpable in images of the four seasons and makes most of the interplay between limited individual existence and the eternity of nature as depicted for in art. This selection of art works from the museum holdings welcomes a new spring. As we rejoice in the blossoms, we can not help but notice, especially against the ecological challenges of our time, their vulnerability and impermanence.

Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin presents Ekimyula Ekijjankunene (The Gorgeous Grotesque / Die prächtige Groteske), a solo exhibition of new works by Leilah Babirye at Goethestraße 2/3 and Bleibtreustraße 15/16. This is the artist’s inaugural exhibition with the gallery.

Galerie Max Hetzler presents Celso and the past, an exhibition of ten paintings by Sergey Kononov at Bleibtreustraße 45 in Berlin. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.In his intimate portraits, Ukrainian painter Sergey Kononov captures quiet moments of solitude or togetherness. Light-drenched and pooled in grainy, ochre tones, Kononov’s canvases exude a tenderness and familiarity reminiscent of a bygone era, thus probing the conventions of realist painting. ‘It’s important for me to capture a luminosity. I want to recreate the look of old films – that grain, that warm light – which I’ve loved my whole life,’ the artist explains.

Esther Schipper is pleased to announce Romantic Room, an exhibition by Sun Yitian with all new paintings. This is Sun's third project with the gallery, following her exhibition in Paris and a presentation at Berlin's Niche space, both in 2023, the year she joined the program.

On May 2, Schipper Gallery presented a solo exhibition of the same name by Merikokeb Berhanu at its Berlin space, exhibiting three new works. This was also the first exhibition after the gallery announced its representation of the artist in April this year.

The Potsdamer Platz Food Festival entices visitors with a colourful spread of street food, delicious delicacies and refreshing drinks – a feast for the senses. Hungry people can try international cuisine, from exotic dishes to local specialities. Relaxing music from a live DJ creates the perfect atmosphere, and the cosy seating areas invite you to linger.

Tauchen Sie mit uns ein in eine Welt voller Magie, Mystik und Eleganz! Unsere exklusive Bauchtanz-Gala entführt Sie auf eine sinnliche Reise durch exotische Rhythmen und faszinierende Bewegungen. Erleben Sie spektakuläre Tänze, atemberaubende Kostüme und eine Atmosphäre, die verzaubert. Lassen Sie sich von der Kunst des Bauchtanzes begeistern und genießen Sie eine unvergessliche Nacht voller Leidenschaft und Kultur! Seien Sie dabei und sichern Sie sich Ihr Ticket für ein einmaliges Erlebnis! Featuring (a.o.) Guest Jasirah (PL) Producer Shalymar Producer Alice Bloom Amira, Massa, Leila Nour, Hayalina, Sharath Information Source: GLOW! dance & more | eventbrite