Berlin Gropius Bau 2026 Kreuzberg

Vlassis Caniaris, child, 1980, Collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Courtesy: Vlassis Caniaris estate and Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich/Paris © Vlassis Caniaris estate, photo: Sebastian Schaub

In hardly any other place did the social and cultural upheavals in West Germany in the 1960s and 1970s become more evident than in Berlin-Kreuzberg : Through recruitment agreements with countries such as Italy, Greece and Turkey and increasing labour migration, small changes were visible here that shaped the German reality. In autumn 2026, the group exhibition Kreuzberg: Art and Migration since 1960 is dedicated to the diverse and hitherto hardly appreciated cultural production around the topic of labor migration and shows how artists in Kreuzberg deal with the tensions and questions of their time.

Gropius Bau, located in this district, presents more than 100 works from film, painting, photography, installation and performance, which focus on the realities of life of migrant workers and subsequent generations and address the struggles for co-determination and equal treatment that are still relevant today. With historical and current works, the exhibition highlights the international significance of Kreuzberg’s cultural production.

With contributions by Alexis Akrithakis, Mehmet Aksoy, Atiye Altül, Ararat‐Verlag, Eduardo Arroyo, Paolo Baratella, Akbar Behkalam, Kaya Behkalam, Cecilis Caniaris, Nuray Demir, Grazia Eminente, Kerem Ergün, Harun Farocki, Mathèos Florakis, Esther Friedman, Abuzer Güler, Sarah Haffner, Kim Min-ki / Lee Hye-kyung, Azade Köker, Evely Kuwertz, Stathis Logothetis, Colette Lumiere, Mihály Moldvay, Mehrangis Montazami-Dabui, Pınar Öğrenci, Aras Ören and Friedrich Wilhelm Zimmermann, Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Eduardo Paolozzi, Minh Duc Pham, Caroline Pinger, Jannis Psychopedis, Aykan Safoğlu, Sohrab Shahid Saless, Ludmila Seefried‐Matě

Curated by Gürsoy Doğtaş, art historian and creative mediator, Manifesta 16, and Patrizia Dander, deputy curatorial director, Gropius Bau, with Sonja Borstner and Elena Franziska Setzer, assistant curators, Gropius Bau

Exhibition management: Lisa Tietze, project manager, with Theresa Augustin, assistant exhibitions

Parallel to Kreuzberg: Art and Migration since 1960, the Berlin Museum presents the exhibition Shared Life from September 11, 2026 to February 7, 2027. Art and Migration in Berlin.

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