Exhibitions 2019

The exhibition Garden of Earthly Delights saw over 20 international artists using the space of the garden as a metaphor for the state of the world, in an exploration of the complexities of our chaotic and increasingly precarious present.

Bani Abidi is known for her distinctive approach to filmmaking, which derives from the dark absurdities of everyday life. They Died Laughing was an extensive presentation of Abidi’s works, bringing together moving image and print-based works that span two decades.

With The Black Image Corporation, Theaster Gates has conceived a participatory exhibition which explores the fundamental legacy of Johnson Publishing Company archives. Featuring more than four million images, they have contributed to shape the aesthetic and cultural languages of African American identity.

Ladies on Paper. Recent Works by Vaginal Davis was the first institutional presentation of Vaginal Davis’ paintings in Berlin. Over a period of six weeks, six different recent portraits were shown successively in single hangings. Taken from a series of works created over the last two years, the paintings depicted six different public figures from the worlds of art, film and literature.

The artist book as an art object in and of itself: Under the title of Museum in My Head, the Walther König Bookshop curated an exhibition of artist books which focused on collecting and archiving at the Gropius Bau.

The group show And Berlin Will Always Need You explored the concept of crafts and handmade processes in Berlin’s contemporary art scene, taking the Gropius Bau’s history as a former museum for decorative arts and educational institution as a starting point.

Lee Bul is one of the most important Korean artists of her generation, having received significant international recognition for her formally inventive and intellectually provocative work. The Gropius Bau presented Crash, her first solo exhibition in Germany. This comprehensive survey was the first exhibition Stephanie Rosenthal has curated as the new director of the Gropius Bau.

News that the Bavarian Public Prosecutor’s office had seized the art collection of Cornelius Gurlitt (1932–2014), caused a national and international sensation when it was made public in November 2013. Spanning a wide range of eras and styles – from Dürer to Monet and from Cranach to Kirchner and Rodin – the exhibition presented works that have been hidden from public view for decades and provided an insight into the current state of the investigation of the Gurlitt trove.

Through spectacular new archaeological finds, and fresh perspectives on old ones, the exhibition Restless Times revealed an unparalleled network of cultural interaction existing in Europe from earliest times to the recent past. Mobility, conflict, exchange and innovation – their origins, effects and interconnections – have always shaped coexistence in Europe.