Berlin's vibrant cultural calendar is packed with so many outstanding exhibitions that visitors often struggle to keep track of what's closing soon. To help art enthusiasts make the most of their time, we've compiled a guide to seven exceptional exhibitions that are ending this month, ensuring you don't miss these remarkable cultural experiences.
The Jewish Museum Berlin is currently showcasing "Inventory. Salman Schocken's Legacy," which explores the cultural heritage of entrepreneur and publisher Salman Schocken through selected artifacts from the museum's collection. American author Joshua Cohen provides commentary on the exhibition, examining a 1924 Nivea cream jar that could have been sold in Schocken's department stores. Cohen's text raises profound questions about appropriation and belonging while tracing the history of the Schocken publishing house. By 1933, Schocken owned 30 department stores and had founded his publishing company in 1931. At the end of 1933, he emigrated to Palestine, where he acquired the newspaper Haaretz and established another publishing house. The exhibition features audio content accessible via QR codes, so visitors are advised to bring headphones for their smartphones. This free exhibition runs until Sunday, October 12.
The Neue Nationalgalerie presents a major retrospective of Brazilian artist Lygia Clark (1920-1988), a leading figure in the Neoconcretismo movement initiated in Rio de Janeiro in 1959. In a 1965 statement titled "Art, Religiosity, Space-Time," Clark explained her philosophy: "You are the ones who now give expression to my thoughts, to draw from them the life experience you want." She always found it wonderful when her art could help someone express themselves, emphasizing subjective, body-related, and sensual art experiences. Just as Bossa Nova revolutionized music at the time, Neoconcretismo struck a new direction in visual arts, combining formal rigor with sensuality. The exhibition displays 120 artworks spanning from the 1940s to the 1980s, including specially made replicas that visitors can interact with. Interactive performances are held every Thursday at 5:30 PM and Sunday at noon, lasting approximately two hours. The exhibition runs until Sunday, October 12, with tickets priced at 16 euros (reduced 8 euros).
The Berlinische Galerie features "Staged Self: Marta Astfalck-Vietz," showcasing the photographic work of an artist who oscillated between elegance and quirky humor during the so-called Golden Twenties. Astfalck-Vietz (1901-1994) belonged to the avant-garde, portraying Berlin's bohemian scene and satirizing gender roles in the Weimar Republic. During the Nazi era, she worked more commercially under the radar to support the resistance and Jewish fellow citizens. From 1936 onwards, it appears she went into inner artistic emigration, meticulously painting watercolor plants until the end of her life. Running parallel is the exhibition "Hero" by Monira Al Qadiri, which examines the socio-cultural, ecological, and political dimensions of the global oil industry through a complex interplay of sculpture, sound, video, and painting. A recurring visual element is the color red, referring to the highly toxic biocide TBT used in shipbuilding antifouling paints that causes massive damage to marine ecosystems. The Astfalck-Vietz exhibition runs until Monday, October 13, with tickets at 10 euros (reduced 6 euros).
The Ballery in Schöneberg presents "Liquid Matrix" by Jerusalem-based architect Yuval Baer, who contemplates boundaries through his theoretical work. While his profession demands stable walls, Baer lets his imagination run free in his second bureau, BAER Architecture and Urban Design. The video installation creates an immersive space of color-intensive images, which Baer previously presented at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. For his second appearance at The Ballery, he has further developed the concept. Generated from images of the four Platonic elements - fire, water, earth, and air - the current all-over projection was created with video artist Maor Michaelove. Ziv Oribarashi mixed the sound design, while Baer contributed the visual concepts for the cascades of changing impressions. Together, it becomes an optical rush of colors and liquid forms that gradually pulls the ground from under your feet, creating a somewhat psychedelic experience. All solid matter becomes a liquid structure that Baer understands as a playground for consciousness - a place of self-reflection where nature, culture, and imagination flow together and connect to form new thoughts about the Anthropocene. This free exhibition runs until Thursday, October 16.
For those interested in exploring the intersection of sacred and mundane, the Kunstbrücke presents "Holy Shit" by Alex Lebus. Drawing from the location's past as a former public toilet, Lebus creates a tour through Christian iconographic tradition that opens a dialogue between intimacy and publicity, the sacred and the everyday. Even Berlin's city pigeons make an appearance as contemporary counterparts to traditional depictions of the Holy Spirit. This thought-provoking and unconventional exhibition runs until Friday, October 31, with free admission.
Galerie Nord showcases "The Line Between Us," a photography project by Nora Bibel and Marcus Höhn that questions whether society's treatment of the LGBTQIA movement serves as a measure of democracy's condition. Together with eleven colleagues, they set out to respectfully depict the lived realities of queer people, capturing the spectrum between self-confident extroversion and the pressure to remain invisible. The exhibition includes a companion program, such as an evening on transgender identity featuring a concert by Lucy Liebe on Friday, October 17 at 7 PM. This free exhibition runs until Saturday, November 1.
Finally, the Alte Nationalgalerie presents "In the Crosshairs!" examining the complicated history of the Corinth collection and highlighting the talent of Charlotte Behrend-Corinth, often overshadowed by her famous husband Lovis Corinth. While Lovis is recognized as one of Germany's great Impressionists, Charlotte has typically been viewed merely as his muse and estate administrator. The course of history ironically transformed the degradation of the painter through the confiscation of her own works alongside those of her deceased husband into a form of recognition. On the 100th anniversary of Lovis Corinth's death, this exhibition traces the complex history of the National Gallery's Corinth collection while properly illuminating Charlotte's artistic talent, as evidenced in works like her 1926 portrait of architect Hans Poelzig. The exhibition runs until Sunday, November 2, with tickets at 14 euros (reduced 7 euros).
