Barry X Ball’s Wild Sculptures Are Perfectly at Home at Venice’s Grand Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore

New York-based artist Barry X Ball's exhibition "The Shape of Time" has opened at the Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, featuring 23 sculptures centered on the elaborate silver and gold piece *Pope Saint John Paul II* (2012–24). The show, organized by curator Bob Nickas, includes many works shown publicly for the first time, such as *Pietà* (2011–22) inspired by Michelangelo and *Saint Bartholomew Flayed* (2011–20). The sculpture of John Paul II, cast in collaboration with Italian jewelry house Damiani, contains hidden references to the pope's life, including his nemeses Hitler, Stalin, and Lenin, as well as a bullet from the 1981 assassination attempt.

10 Ausstellungen, die Sie zum Gallery Weekend nicht verpassen sollten

The article highlights ten must-see exhibitions during Berlin's Gallery Weekend, curated by the editorial team of Monopol magazine. Featured shows include Jiyoon Chung's installation "Dead End" at Anton Janizewski, which explores perception and anxiety through subtle triggers; Giorgio Griffa's retrospective at Walter Storms Galerie, showcasing his poetic abstract paintings on un-stretched linen; Walid Raad's "Like a Rubber Rung on a Ladder" at Galerie Thomas Schulte, referencing the Lebanese Civil War with a crashed VW Beetle and graffiti; and Thomas Demand's exhibition at Sprüth Magers, where his photographs printed on copper plates reflect on current events like the Gaza war and climate change.

10 exhibitions you can still see after Berlin's Gallery Weekend

10 Ausstellungen, die Sie auch nach dem Gallery Weekend in Berlin sehen können

The Monopol editorial team highlights ten standout exhibitions from Berlin's Gallery Weekend, including Jiyoon Chung's installation "Dead End" at Anton Janizewski, which uses subtle triggers to explore perception and anxiety; Giorgio Griffa's retrospective at Walter Storms Galerie, featuring his poetic abstract paintings on raw linen; Walid Raad's narrative-driven show at Galerie Thomas Schulte, referencing the Lebanese civil war with a crashed VW Beetle and bomb graffiti; and Thomas Demand's new works at Sprüth Magers, printed on copper plates to create a shimmering aura. The article provides a curated tour of these shows, many of which remain open after the weekend.

Gallery Weekend Berlin opens ranks as city faces identity crisis

Gallery Weekend Berlin (GWB) expands from 50 to 57 participating galleries in 2025, introducing a new section called Perspectives that features smaller, younger galleries previously excluded from the event. The 20-year-old event, which began with 21 dealers aiming to attract international collectors to Berlin, has grown into a major sales week for galleries. Perspectives includes galleries like Anton Janizewski and Persons Projects, with a reduced participation fee of €4,500 (half the usual €9,000), subsidized by the Berlin Senate. The selection committee invites galleries rather than accepting applications, a process that has faced accusations of elitism.

Natasha Tontey to Unveil Major New Immersive Installation Exploring Indigenous Resistance During Venice Biennale

Artist Natasha Tontey will unveil a major immersive installation titled "The Phantom Combatants and the Metabolism of Disobedient Organs" during the Venice Biennale at the Ateneo Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. Jointly commissioned by Berlin’s LAS Art Foundation and Helsinki’s Amos Rex, the work combines video, sound, light, and sculpture to reimagine the story of Len Karamoy, a combatant in the CIA-supported Permesta movement that fought the Indonesian government from 1957 to 1961 in North Sulawesi. Tontey, a Minahasan Indigenous artist, uses LiDAR, quantum ghost imaging, and other technologies to explore Indigenous identity, ecology, and the blurring of history and myth.

After the Afterparty: Berlin Art Tests Its Pulse during Gallery Weekend

Gallery Weekend Berlin took place from late April into early May, drawing large crowds despite ongoing concerns about the city's declining art-market relevance. The weekend kicked off with early previews on Wednesday, including Alex Heide's solo exhibition "the darkroom beams horizons" at the new space Klix, and continued with events at Sprüth Magers, the Between Bridges Foundation, and the hidden venue CHB Fine Arts, which featured works by Nairy Baghramian, Jack O'Brien, Sofia Duchovny, Ilya Lipkin, and Mania Godarzani-Bakhtiari. Friday, coinciding with May Day, saw gallery visits at Molitor and KOW, where Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili and Candice Breitz presented solo shows.

The great Anselm Kiefer arrives in Valencia for an exhibition. There is a rare work for the first time in Europe

Il grande Anselm Kiefer arriva in mostra a Valencia. C’è un’opera rara per la prima volta in Europa

German artist Anselm Kiefer is coming to Valencia for the first time, inaugurating the temporary exhibition program at the CAHH – Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero. The show, curated by Javier Molins, will run from April 29 to October 25 at the Palacio de Valeriola, featuring Kiefer's works in dialogue with the permanent collection. A highlight is "Danaë," a monumental painting over 13 meters wide that depicts the interior of Berlin's Tempelhof airport and references the myth of Danaë; this work has only been shown once before, in New York in 2022, and is now on view in Europe for the first time.

Gropius Bau öffnet abends länger

The Gropius Bau in Berlin has extended its evening opening hours by one hour, now open until 8 PM (closed Tuesdays), due to high demand for its exhibition of performance artist Marina Abramović. The show, titled "Balkan Erotic Epic," opened two weeks ago and drew long queues from the start. It features both new and older works, including performances where Abramović carved a star into her abdomen or lay in a burning installation until losing consciousness. The exhibition explores eroticism, politics, Balkan folklore, sexual energy, death, the political dimension of the body, and the Yugoslav wars.

Berlin in Art Spring

Berlin im Kunstfrühling

The Monopol podcast "Kunst und Leben" previews the upcoming Gallery Weekend Berlin, taking place from May 1 to 3. Editors Elke Buhr and Silke Hohmann share their personal watchlist of must-see exhibitions, including shows by Daniel Buren and Lawrence Weiner at Konrad Fischer, Candice Breitz at KOW, Heimo Zobernig at Nagel Draxler, and Jorinde Voigt at Mercator Höfe. The episode also covers performances, tattoo art on moving cars, tapestries, robot dogs, and tips for navigating the weekend.

There is a major Paulo Nazareth exhibition to see in Venice (but the artist himself hasn't seen it)

C’è una grande mostra di Paulo Nazareth da vedere a Venezia (ma l’artista stesso non l’ha vista)

A major exhibition of Brazilian artist Paulo Nazareth, titled "Algebra," has opened at Punta della Dogana in Venice, but the artist himself is absent. Nazareth has kept a promise not to set foot in Europe until he has crossed African territories on foot, as they existed before the arbitrary divisions imposed by the 1884 Berlin Conference. He did not participate in the installation or opening, instead staging a simultaneous event in Veneza, a working-class district of Ribeirão das Neves, Brazil—a gesture he also made when invited to the 2013 Venice Biennale. The exhibition centers on structural violence and uses attention and care as strategies for healing, with the word "algebra" referring to the act of recomposing what was broken.

Aileen Murphy Sleeps on the Ceiling

Aileen Murphy's third exhibition at Deborah Schamoni in Munich, titled "Sleeps on the Ceiling," presents five new paintings dominated by rosé and pink tones. The works revolve around a table-like motif, featuring animals, disembodied limbs, and surreal details such as a white cat with red eyes and a yellow snake. Murphy, who completed her studies in 2018, blends abstract gestures with detailed figuration, creating scenes that are both playful and uncanny. The exhibition's title is borrowed from Elizabeth Bishop's poem "Sleeping on the Ceiling" (1946), reflecting a dissolution of domestic interior, urban monument, and psychological landscape.

What else is happening

Was sonst noch geht

Ahead of the Gallery Weekend Berlin (May 1–3), the city is buzzing with parallel exhibitions that extend far beyond the official gallery circuit. The fourth edition of the Sellerie Weekend opens over 75 independent Off-Spaces from April 30 to May 3, featuring performances, curated tours, and a kickoff event with artist Sophia Süßmilch at the Spoiler project space. The Paper Positions art fair returns to Tempelhof Airport (April 30–May 3) with 70 international galleries specializing in works on paper, including artists like Annegret Soltau, Una Ursprung, and Stefanie Moshammer. Meanwhile, the art initiative House presents the group show "Gravity Ease Contract" in the Berghain heating plant hall (May 1–24), curated by David Douard, with works by Susan Philipsz, Julia Scher, and others. Finally, collectors Karen and Christian Boros unveil "Berlin Bunker #5" in their bunker-turned-museum, featuring recent acquisitions by Pol Taburet, Sung Tieu, and Jill Mulleady.

Deutscher Pavillon wird zum Plattenbau

The German Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale has been transformed into a prefabricated concrete slab building (Plattenbau) for this year's edition, designed by artists Sung Tieu and the late Henrike Naumann, who died suddenly in February at age 41 from cancer. Curator Kathleen Reinhardt described the pavilion as part of a highly political Biennale, with Tieu covering the 1938 fascist-era building with a mosaic of over three million tiles depicting a Berlin apartment block that once housed Vietnamese contract workers. Naumann's interior installation features mint-green references to Soviet barracks in East Germany, a cartography of war, and works including a relief of chairs, a curtain of chainmail, and the performance "Trümmerfrau."

Where to go in May?

Wohin im Mai?

The article, published by Monopol magazine, previews a selection of art exhibitions and biennials opening in May. Highlights include the 61st Venice Biennale, a solo show by Lina Lapelytė at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin (part of the CHANEL COMMISSION series), a group exhibition titled "Lebt und arbeitet in Wien. Contemporary Art from Vienna" at Kunsthalle Wien, and a presentation of Christoph Schlingensief's work "The African Twin Towers" (2005) at MAK Wien. Also featured is Maximiliane Baumgärtner's exhibition at Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen in Düsseldorf.

A Pavilion of Ruins: Germany Reconsiders Its Past in Venice

The German Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale features a dual presentation exploring the country's layered political history. Artist Sung Tieu has cloaked the pavilion's fascist-era facade with a mosaic reconstruction of a GDR housing estate for Vietnamese contract workers, where she lived as a child. Inside, the late Henrike Naumann's immersive installation 'The Home Front' uses furniture and design to stage a confrontation between East and West German domestic and political ideologies. Naumann died in February 2025 at age 41, but her fully realized concept was completed collaboratively by her partner and curator Kathleen Reinhardt.

Monopol verlost 5 × 2 Tickets für Graciela Iturbide bei C/O Berlin

German art magazine Monopol is giving away 5 × 2 tickets for the retrospective exhibition "Graciela Iturbide: Eyes to Fly With" at C/O Berlin. The article describes Iturbide's career, including her iconic photograph "Mujer ángel" (Angel Woman) taken in the Sonora Desert while living with the Seri people, and her long-term documentary projects on Mexican cultural practices, such as the Zapotec community in Oaxaca and images like "Nuestra Señora de las Iguanas." Iturbide, born in Mexico City in 1942, began her photography career in the late 1960s as an assistant to Manuel Álvarez Bravo.

As Told By: Slavs and Tatars at Rossi & Rossi

Slavs and Tatars, the research-based art collective, opened their first solo exhibition in Hong Kong titled “胡 ( هو / who) are you?” at Rossi & Rossi, running until May 9, 2026. The show gathers iconic projects and new commissions across various media, playfully probing the philosophical question of identity and belonging. Co-founder Payam Sharifi discusses works such as the handblown glass melon sculptures in "Dark Yelblow" (2025), which explore cultural stereotypes and the figure of the Other, and the "Love Me, Love Me Not" series, which recovers original place names and scripts to reveal the layered complexity of empires.

German Expressionism at the National Gallery

The National Gallery in London will stage its first exhibition of modern German paintings, 'German Expressionism: Modern Painting 1900–1918', in spring 2027, before traveling to the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin in autumn 2027. This is the first UK and Ireland exhibition since the 1960s to cover both key Expressionist groups, Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter, featuring over fifty international loans from institutions such as Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie, Brücke Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, alongside works from private collections.

lina lapelytė fills hamburger bahnhof with 400,000 cubes, inviting visitors to build and sing

Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytė has filled Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof museum with 400,000 lightweight foam cubes, creating an interactive installation titled "The Singing Cube." Visitors are invited to stack, carry, and rebuild the cubes while participating in collective singing performances, transforming the museum into a participatory sound and sculpture environment. The installation evolves over time through the collaborative actions of participants, blending architecture, music, and social interaction.

Brancusi

The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, in cooperation with the Centre Pompidou in Paris, has opened the first major exhibition of sculptor Constantin Brancusi in Germany in over 50 years. Featuring more than 150 works—including sculptures, photographs, drawings, films, and archival materials—the show presents key pieces such as "The Kiss," "Bird in Space," "Sleeping Muse," and "Endless Column," alongside a partial reconstruction of Brancusi's legendary studio, shown outside Paris for the first time since its bequest to the French state in 1957.

'ART FROM WAR TO WAR: CHASING BUTTERFLIES OVER THE VERGE OF A CLIFF' at Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Düsseldorf, Germany on 28 May–15 Aug 2026

An exhibition titled 'ART FROM WAR TO WAR: CHASING BUTTERFLIES OVER THE VERGE OF A CLIFF' is on view at Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art in Düsseldorf, Germany, from 28 May to 15 August 2026. Curated by Antonio Geusa and Kay Heymer, the show features selected works from the Valeria Rodnianski collection, spanning artists from Germany and the Soviet/post-Soviet space. It is structured around two historical turning points—the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022—and organized into three thematic sections: Topos, Anthropos, and Logos, exploring place, human experience, and language.

Bizarre robot dogs sporting Musk, Zuckerberg heads torment visitors in Berlin museum — as part of creepy influencer exhibit

A pack of robot dogs fitted with hyper-realistic silicone heads of tech billionaires and cultural icons—including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol—is now on display at the New National Gallery in Berlin as part of the traveling interactive exhibit "Regular Animals." Created by American artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann), the cyborg canines wander aimlessly and defecate AI-generated images in the style of the celebrity head they wear. The exhibit previously appeared in Miami and San Francisco.

Nel Padiglione Germania alla Biennale di Venezia un gruppo di donne riflette sulle rovine del passato per capire il mondo

The German Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale will present the work of two women artists, Henrike Naumann and Sung Tieu, following the death of Naumann at age 41 in February 2026. Curated by Kathleen Reinhardt, director of the Georg Kolbe Museum in Berlin, the pavilion's project, titled "Ruin," explores the dual meanings of the word in English and German—architectural decay versus economic, social, or moral collapse. The exhibition draws on research into East Germany (DDR) and the post-reunification period, using the pavilion's fascist architecture as a lens to examine historical ruptures and their impact on the present. For the first time in its history, the German Pavilion is represented solely by women, mirroring the Italian Pavilion.

The Top 10 Exhibitions to See Around the World This May

Ocula's global team of editors has curated a list of the top 10 exhibitions to see worldwide in May, highlighting diverse shows from Rio de Janeiro to New York. Featured exhibitions include Jungjin Lee's photographic works blending Icelandic landscapes and intimate objects on traditional Korean paper, a millennial-themed group show titled "Genuine Premium Fake Economy" examining precarity through artists like Jasmine Gregory and Buck Ellis, Joan Semmel's solo exhibition "Continuities" at Xavier Hufkens and Alexander Gray Associates showcasing her erotic self-portraiture at age 93, and Wynnie Mynerva's Berlin Gallery Weekend show addressing colonial violence and Andean mythology.

Exhibition | Shota Nakamura, 'Apple' at Karma, Los Angeles

Shota Nakamura's exhibition 'Apple' at Karma in Los Angeles presents a series of new paintings that explore familiar subjects—fruit, shells, sailboats, landscapes—through a dreamlike, tonally nuanced lens. The Berlin-based Japanese artist focuses on the tonality of light, using closely-valued hues to investigate relationships between color, luminosity, and illusion. Works such as 'Landscape with Apples' (2026), 'A Black Dog', and 'Violin Player' demonstrate his method of combining personal photographs, memory, and art historical references into compositions that balance representation with formal abstraction, often referencing modern Japanese painters like Zenzaburo Kojima and Morikazu Kumagai as well as Mark Rothko.

7 artists to have on your radar at Gallery Weekend Berlin 2026

Gallery Weekend Berlin returns for its 22nd edition from May 1 to 3, 2026, featuring 50 galleries across 66 locations throughout the city. The event showcases both established and emerging artists from over 30 countries, with highlights including Martine Syms's pop-up boutique at Sprüth Magers, Göksu Kunak's performance-based exhibition at Ebensperger, and a new sector called Perspectives featuring James Turrell. Other notable presentations include Wynnie Mynerva's exploration of love and colonialism at Société, Monty Richthofen's city-wide performance at Dittrich & Schlechtriem, and Hanna Stiegeler's intimate screenprinted canvases at Sweetwater.

Building Worlds

Welten bauen

Lina Lapelytė has transformed the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin into a mutable landscape of wooden blocks for her second Chanel Commission. The installation, titled "Welten bauen" (Building Worlds), invites visitors to actively shape the space, incorporating elements of poetry, song, and community. The work draws inspiration from Paul Hindemith's 1930s children's singspiel "Wir bauen eine Stadt," which was banned by the Nazis and led to Hindemith's emigration.

A Struggle Between Artist and Machine

Ein Ringen zwischen Künstler und Maschine

Mario Klingemann, a pioneer of AI art, presents "Conflict of Interest," a pop-up exhibition at Sleek Art Space in Berlin during Gallery Weekend. Curated by Anika Meier and produced in collaboration with Art on Tezos, the show features works that challenge the flood of AI-generated imagery. Klingemann displays mundane landscape photographs from private slides, a series called "Weapons of Mass Distraction" where he disrupts an AI algorithm's image generation, and a haunting 2020 video in which AI-generated faces morph to music. The exhibition makes visible the struggle between human control and machine logic.

The Future Will Be Neither Good Nor Bad, But Strange

"Die Zukunft wird nicht gut oder schlecht, sondern seltsam"

Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, has brought his "Regular Animals" series to the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The works feature digital creatures that blend pop-culture figures like Mark Zuckerberg with art-historical references such as Picasso, continuing Beeple's signature style of satirical, software-generated imagery. The exhibition marks a significant institutional debut for the artist, who rose to fame by selling the most expensive NFT ever and posting daily digital art online.

Where to go on Potsdamer Straße?

Wohin auf der Potsdamer Straße?

The article previews the Gallery Weekend Berlin, focusing on the Potsdamer Straße art scene. It highlights several exhibitions, including Adam Gordon's "Months Turn to Years" at Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, which transforms the space into a secluded enclave with quiet paintings. Other featured shows include luminous color experiments, soap foam as an art form, and works exploring identity.