Monuments in Motion

Denkmäler in Bewegung

Berlin-based artist Sarah Ama Duah, who transitioned from fashion to sculpture, creates works that explore Afro-German memory culture. Her practice includes beeswax portraits, found objects like Delft porcelain and baroque vases, and performances at venues such as the Humboldt Forum. In 2025, she received the Wolfram Beck Prize for Sculpture. Duah's early fashion work, including silicone garments shown at the Fashionclash Festival in Maastricht, evolved into sculptural investigations of clothing, body, and space, leading her to study performance and sculpture at the Berlin University of the Arts under Jimmy Robert.

The Backlash Is Here

"Der Backlash ist da"

Kathleen Reinhardt, the curator of the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, has announced her concept featuring artists Sung Tieu and Henrike Naumann under the title "Ruin." The exhibition will use East Germany as a prism to explore themes of power, history, and the present. Reinhardt was invited to submit a concrete concept and specific artists for this edition of the pavilion.

History Made Material

Material gewordene Geschichte

The German Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale has been transformed by artist Sung Tieu, who clad its Nazi-era facade with millions of small marble tiles to replicate the look of a prefabricated East German apartment block—specifically the Gehrenseestraße housing complex in Berlin where she spent part of her childhood. Inside, the exhibition features glass casts of her mother's limbs, aluminum beams evoking cramped living quarters, and works by the late Henrike Naumann, all curated by Kathleen Reinhardt to explore bureaucracy, migration, and systemic violence.

It's a Rollercoaster of Emotions

"Es ist ein Wechselbad der Gefühle"

Sung Tieu has been selected to represent Germany at the Venice Biennale with a solo exhibition in the German Pavilion. In an interview with Monopol, she discusses how her personal biography—as a Vietnamese-German artist—informs her practice, which examines Vietnamese migration to East Germany, the rise of right-wing extremism, and the cold, bureaucratic language of state power. The exhibition will bring these themes to an international audience in Venice.

Henrike Naumanns langer Weg in den deutschen Pavillon

Henrike Naumann, a German artist who recently passed away, is being honored with a posthumous exhibition at the German Pavilion during the Venice Biennale. Her work, which explores recent German history, state art, and the absence of East German art in the pavilion, finds its ultimate context in this historically charged Nazi-era building.

Hedwig Fijen to Depart as Founding Director of Manifesta

Hedwig Fijen, the founding director of Manifesta, the nomadic European biennial launched in 1996, has announced she will depart on October 5. Fijen began working on the platform in 1991 under a commission from the Netherlands Office for Fine Arts, and oversaw editions in cities including Rotterdam, Palermo, Pristina, and Barcelona. The supervisory board has appointed Emilia van Lynden as general director and Catherine Nichols as artistic director to lead future editions, starting with Manifesta 16 in Germany’s Ruhr Valley this year and Manifesta 17 in Coimbra, Portugal, in 2028.

'Sachlichkeit' at Galerie Albrecht, Berlin, Germany on 2 May–27 Jun 2026

Galerie Albrecht in Berlin presents 'Sachlichkeit', an exhibition running from 2 May to 27 June 2026, that explores the concept of objectivity in art. The show features works by Kate Diehn-Bitt, a forgotten representative of the New Objectivity movement, alongside Michael Langner, associated with 'German Pop', as well as Rafael Cidoncha, Emese Kazár, and Sabine Herrmann. The exhibition examines how these artists portray people and objects with empathy, realism, and sometimes surreal distortion, ranging from Diehn-Bitt's empathetic portraits to Langner's automobile studies and Kazár's commentary on women's lives.

Urban Art Biennale: Rust, dust and decay revamps Germany's Völklingen ironworks

Dozens of urban artists from 17 countries have gathered at Germany's Völklinger Hütte (Völklingen Ironworks), a UNESCO World Heritage site, for the Urban Art Biennale 2026 opening this Saturday. The exhibition features 50 artists including Tomas Lacque, Boris Tellegen (Delta), Vortex-X, Ampparito, Remi Rough, and Anders Reventlov, who have created site-specific installations that engage with the industrial landmark's sprawling spaces, rust, dust, and sense of decay. Works range from a van covered in ash-like paint to a massive wooden sculpture and a rooftop text piece visible from 45 meters high.

Urban Art Biennale returns to UNESCO industrial site in Germany | Daily Sabah

Dozens of urban artists from 17 countries have gathered at the Völklinger Hütte (Völklingen Ironworks) in Germany, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and former ironworks, for the Urban Art Biennale 2026. The exhibition features 50 artists, including Tomas Lacque, Boris Tellegen, Ampparito, Remi Rough, Anders Reventlov, and the collective Vortex-X, who have created site-specific installations, murals, and sculptures that engage with the industrial ruins and history of the 15-acre complex, which ceased production in 1986.

What the renovation of the Pergamon Museum costs

Was die Sanierung des Pergamonmuseums kostet

The Pergamon Museum in Berlin is undergoing a major renovation with a total budget of €1.5 billion for both construction phases, including cost risks. The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR) has announced that current projections indicate the overall costs will not be exceeded. Phase A, which includes the hall housing the famous Pergamon Altar, is expected to open on June 4, 2027, with a potential cost increase of up to 5% over the originally approved €489 million. Phase B, covering the Ishtar Gate and Babylonian Processional Way, has seen its cost forecast reduced by €27 million to €722.4 million, with an additional €295.6 million set aside for risks and price increases. The museum will fully reopen only in 2037.

Berlin Modern Museum Construction Delayed Until 2030

Museumsbau Berlin Modern verzögert sich bis 2030

The completion of Berlin Modern, a major new museum in Berlin, has been delayed again until 2030 due to moisture damage and microbial infestation found in parts of the raw structure. The Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK) announced an estimated eight-month postponement, though no construction stop was required. The museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, is being built near Potsdamer Platz to expand the Neue Nationalgalerie's exhibition space. Costs have risen from an initial €200 million to a projected €507 million.

In Venice, the Wagner Museum changes status

À Venise, le Musée Wagner change de statut

The Wagner Museum in Venice, currently a discreet institution housed within the Casino di Venezia in the Ca' Vendramin Calergi palace on the Grand Canal, is set to join the network of the Fondazione dei Musei Civici di Venezia (MUVE) by 2027. An agreement signed in March 2025, after thirty years of discussions, between MUVE, the Casino, and the Richard Wagner Association will make the museum the fourteenth institution under MUVE's management, alongside the Museo Correr, Ca' Pesaro, and the Museo Fortuny. The museum, established in 1995 in the rooms where Richard Wagner stayed and died in 1883, holds significant collections including the Josef Lienhart and Walter Just collections, making it one of the most important private Wagnerian collections outside Bayreuth, Germany.

A Museum Show Like No Other Aschaffenburg’s ‘Bavarian Nice’ Becomes the Stage for a Powerful Ukraine-Europe Art Collaboration Amid Global Conflict!

Aschaffenburg, Germany, is hosting a landmark exhibition titled 'A European Collection' at the Christian Schad Museum, opening April 30, 2026. The show features 73 European masterpieces from the 15th to 19th centuries, loaned from the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum in Kyiv, Ukraine. Works by Peter Paul Rubens, Bernardo Bellotto, and Claude-Joseph Vernet are included, alongside a contemporary piece by Ukrainian artist Maria Kulikovska juxtaposed with Antonio Canova's sculpture 'La Pace'. This is the first comprehensive presentation of these Ukrainian-held works in Germany.

Das alles bin ich! Christoph Müller’s gift, part 4

Art collector Christoph Müller has gifted approximately 200 works on paper—drawings, prints, and watercolours—to the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) in Berlin. The gift is being presented in four successive exhibitions at the Gemäldegalerie under the title "Das alles bin ich" (I am all that!), with the final installment, "Leaf by leaf – A life with art," running from 10 March to 14 June 2026. The works span five centuries and originate from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and France, covering themes such as nature, portraits, landscapes, history, and everyday life.

georg baselitz dies at 88, pioneer of inverted painting and postwar german art

Georg Baselitz, the influential German painter known for his inverted figures and raw, expressive style, has died at age 88. A pioneer of postwar German art, Baselitz gained international fame in the 1960s by turning his canvases upside down, forcing viewers to focus on form and paint rather than narrative. His work often grappled with the trauma of Nazi Germany and the divided nation's identity, making him a central figure in the Neo-Expressionist movement.

Andrew Christopher Green at Galerie Khoshbakht

Andrew Christopher Green presents a solo exhibition titled "Catkins" at Galerie Khoshbakht in Cologne, running from April 17 to May 23, 2026. The show features a selection of works documented through 9 images and 1 video on the gallery's exhibition page, with photography by Mareike Tocha.

“Yellow Letters”: arte e politica, libertà e censura nel nuovo film di İlker Çatak

Ilker Çatak's fifth film, "Yellow Letters," premieres on April 30, 2026, distributed by Lucky Red. The story follows Derya and Aziz, a Turkish artist couple whose lives unravel after Aziz, a professor at Ankara University, receives a "yellow letter" terminating his employment. The film, inspired by post-2016 coup purges in Turkey, shifts to Berlin and Hamburg, where the director deliberately avoids mimicking Turkish locations, instead using explicit captions like "Berlin as Ankara" to create a Brechtian alienation effect. Çatak explores how arbitrary state repression fractures personal relationships and moral boundaries, drawing on interviews with artists who faced unjust dismissals.

London Gallery Cancels Antisemitic Art Exhibit After Pro-Israel Lawyers Intervene

A London gallery, Delta House Gallery in Wandsworth, canceled a traveling exhibition titled "Drawings Against Genocide" by British artist Matthew Collings after UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) intervened, citing antisemitic content. The show, scheduled for May 16-24, featured drawings with swastikas, comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany, and depictions of Jewish figures with horns, among other imagery. Gallery owner Pineapple Corporation Chairman Tom Berglund confirmed the cancellation, stating the exhibition was arranged without owner consultation.

Gitte Zschoch wird Generalsekretärin des Goethe-Instituts

Gitte Zschoch has been appointed as the new Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut, taking over the role and chairmanship of the board on July 18. She succeeds Johannes Ebert, who has held the position since 2012 and will now lead the institute's regional office in Athens. Zschoch, currently Secretary General of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa), previously worked for the Goethe-Institut in various roles, including founding director of its branch in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The appointment was confirmed by German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and approved by the institute's presidium.

Berlin Museum to Return Almost 600 Skulls

Berliner Museum will fast 600 Schädel zurückgeben

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin has announced plans to repatriate hundreds of human skulls to West African nations following a multi-year provenance investigation. The research identified the origins of 574 skulls, with 336 linked to present-day Cameroon, 151 to Togo, 23 to Ghana, and one to Nigeria, while 63 could not be precisely located. The skulls were part of a historical anthropological collection transferred from Berlin's Charité university hospital in 2011.

Historical Museum Returns Painting

Historisches Museum gibt Bild zurück

The German Historical Museum (DHM) in Berlin has restituted a 19th-century portrait of historian Leopold von Ranke to the von der Schulenburg family. The painting by Adolf Jebens, dated 1876, was seized in 1945 during a land reform in the Soviet Occupation Zone from the family's Schloss Lodersleben estate. The museum's director, Raphael Gross, confirmed the return after provenance research identified the work's history.

Torsten Slama at Neuer Essener Kunstverein

The Neuer Essener Kunstverein in Essen is presenting an exhibition titled "Die Vatermaschine" featuring the work of Torsten Slama, running from February 28 to May 24, 2026. The exhibition is documented through 26 images on Contemporary Art Daily, with press release and floor plan available.

‘Apoi’ and Weaving What Remains

Ugandan artist Acaye Kerunen presents her first solo museum exhibition in Germany, titled 'Apoi,' at the Kunstmuseen Krefeld. The show, installed across the modernist spaces of Haus Lange and Haus Esters, features handwoven textiles, sculpture, sound, and film that draw on Indigenous knowledge systems and intergenerational exchange. It is part of the museum's ongoing 'HL HE Dialog: What Comes After Art' series.

Frieze New Writers Pick Vienna’s Must-See Exhibitions

Andrew Durbin reviews national pavilions at a major art event, contrasting a vacuous US presentation with incisive and moving installations from Britain and Germany. The piece is part of Frieze's 'Critic's Guides' series, offering a pointed critique of the US pavilion's lack of meaning against the strength of its European counterparts.

As the South African Pavilion Sits Empty, Gabrielle Goliath Continues a ‘Life-Work of Mourning’

South African artist Gabrielle Goliath inaugurated an off-site Venice exhibition with a public poetry reading after her official presentation at the South African Pavilion was canceled. The performance, part of her ongoing series *Elegy* (2015), features seven singers sustaining a single tone for an hour as a mourning ritual. The work addresses femicide, rape culture, and the killing of Palestinian civilians, and includes new video and sound installations lamenting specific victims: South African teenager Ipeleng Christine Moholane, Nama women killed during Germany’s colonization of Namibia, and Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada. The South African Department of Sport, Arts and Culture rescinded Goliath’s invitation in January, deeming the work “related to an ongoing international conflict that is widely polarising.” Goliath unsuccessfully challenged the decision in South Africa’s high court, and the exhibition now runs throughout the Venice Biennale outside the official program before traveling to London in October.

Plas Art Show goes back to basics with renewed focus on its sculpture, 3-D work

The Plas Art Show, a Seoul-based art fair specializing in sculpture and three-dimensional works, returns for its 11th edition from June 4 at Coex in Gangnam District. Featuring 102 galleries (91 domestic and 11 from Taiwan, Germany, Japan, and Georgia), the fair presents roughly 750 artists and 3,500 works under the theme “New Chance.” Fair president Shin Jun-won acknowledged criticism that the event had drifted from its sculptural focus and announced stricter curation, including on-site inspections and penalties for galleries that fail to include at least one three-dimensional artist and one stereoscopic work. Standard booth prices range from 5.7 to 6.7 million won, which Shin says attracts Gangnam-area galleries priced out of larger venues.

Seoul Museum of Craft Art opens two exhibitions centered on brief but ambitious Korean Empire

The Seoul Museum of Craft Art opens two special exhibitions on Tuesday, both centered on the Korean Empire (1897-1910), a brief period when Korea sought to modernize through craft and industrial innovation. The larger exhibition, “The Hybrid,” marks 140 years of diplomatic relations between Korea and France, gathering 24 objects from European collections—23 from France and one from Germany—some not displayed in Korea in over 120 years. The second, “Folded Time, Unfolded Memory: Andong Palace,” focuses on the royal women who lived on the museum’s grounds, particularly Empress Sunjeonghyo and Princess Kim Deok-su. Museum director Kim Soo-jung described the two shows as “almost like an omnibus,” connected through the Korean Empire period.

Marie Antoinette Fashion at Museum Exhibitions [PHOTOS]

A photo essay showcases fashion and decorative arts associated with Marie Antoinette, drawn from multiple museum exhibitions in France. Images include an English-style dress and skirt (circa 1780-1790) from the Palais Galliera-Paris Musées, a shoe from 1895 at the Musée des Beaux Arts de Caen, a pug on a cushion from the Berlin Manufactory (circa 1760) courtesy of Les Arts Décoratifs, and a painting titled "The Bad News" by Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre. The collection also features a French-style dress (circa 1755-1765), a formal corset attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette (circa 1770-1780), and a view of the exhibition "Fashion in the 18th Century: A Fantasized Legacy" at the Palais Galliera fashion museum in Paris.

Hamburg Culture Prize No Longer Named After Biermann-Ratjen

Hamburger Kulturpreis heißt nicht mehr nach Biermann-Ratjen

The Hamburg Senate has renamed the Senator-Biermann-Ratjen Medal, a prestigious cultural award, to the "Medaille für Kunst und Kultur in Hamburg" (Medal for Art and Culture in Hamburg). The decision follows a 2024 review of historical records revealing that Hans Harder Biermann-Ratjen (1901–1969), the former culture senator for whom the medal was named, was a member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Historian Helmut Stubbe da Luz presented evidence in June 2024 that Biermann-Ratjen had disclosed his NSDAP membership in a 1943 application to the Reich Literature Chamber when seeking to publish a novel.

A Different Germany

Ein anderes Deutschland

The German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, historically burdened by its Nazi-era origins, presents a new exhibition titled "Ruin." For the first time, the pavilion explicitly adopts an East German perspective, confronting its fraught past from a fresh angle. The show features massive pillars and a prominent "Germania" inscription above the entrance, directly engaging with the building's controversial history.