A day in the countryside - summer festival at the Kulturforum Berlin
Press release from 09/02/2025
On 14 September 2025, the Kulturforum Berlin will once again be transformed into a large event space - both indoors and outdoors. For the fourth time, the cultural and scientific institutions and the church located there are inviting everyone to a summer festival, which this year will be a symbol of hope and peaceful coexistence under the motto "Paradise".
The Kulturforum will become a Garden of Eden - in the future, but also now, at the annual Day in the Green. A wide range of events in all the houses at the Kulturforum invite you to come together, look, listen, try things out, join in and celebrate. The programme starts at 12 noon with a total of 73 events: In addition to guided tours for children (from the age of 6) and adults, there are numerous family activities and workshops for singing, drawing, dancing and handicrafts. Concerts will take place on the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's VeloStage mobile stage, on Scharounplatz and at the Ibero-American Institute.
Joint outdoor highlights: Berlin's longest table in the countryside offers the opportunity to take a seat under the trees of the "Baumschule Kulturforum" tree nursery and linger in the special atmosphere of the place from 12 noon to 7 pm. If you don't bring your own picnic, you can get refreshments from the surrounding food trucks on Scharounplatz. Between the Backhauswagen and the long table, the artists of the "Bündnis Feuerundflamme" will create an open space for experimentation - a place for the traditional joint preparation of certain dishes and for exchange and encounters. Young Berlin bands will present a varied programme of brass, jazz, indie pop and love songs. At 5 p.m., everyone is invited to send a message of peace to the world with bells they have brought with them: The participatory performance"Yoko Ono: Bells for Peace" takes place at the end of the exhibition "Yoko Ono: DREAM TOGETHER" on the terrace of the Neue Nationalgalerie.
The museums at the Kulturforum can be visited on the "Day in the Green" with a day ticket at a special price of 12 euros (instead of 20 euros), concessions 6 euros. Holders of an annual ticket can bring one person with them free of charge. As usual, children and young people up to the age of 18 are admitted free of charge. The programme contributions by the Ibero-American Institute, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Matthew's Church and the Social Science Research Centre Berlin are free of charge, as are the outdoor events.
The joint programme day is being realised with the support of the LOTTO-Stiftung Berlin, the Diakonisches Werk Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz and the Fördergemeinschaft Ökologischer Landbau Berlin-Brandenburg e.V..
Photos: www.preussischer-kulturbesitz.de/newsroom/presse/pressebilder
Programme:https://kulturforum.berlin/
Tickets at a special price are available in the ticket shop of the National Museums in Berlin: https://shop.smb.museum/
Programme excerpt
Musicians from the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker will perform several half-hour concerts on the VeloStage mobile stage. Visitors can make the foyer of the chamber music hall resound with singing workshops, build instruments and play a musical memory game. Family and architectural tours offer the opportunity to explore Hans Scharoun's iconic Philharmonie.
A wide range of guided tours, such as "Heaven and Hell", "Yes to Paradise", "Paradise in Gold and Silver - Treasures of the Middle Ages" and "Time Travel to Paradise Lost", will entice visitors to the Picture Gallery, the Museum of Decorative Arts, the Museum of Prints and Drawings and the Art Library. In the afternoons, drop-in workshops allow visitors to work with pastels and charcoal under the guidance of artists or design their own paradise using various materials. In addition to guided tours, the Neue Nationalgalerie also offers various workshops in which visitors can draw, build and design their own bells for the "Bells for Peace" performance. In addition, numerous performances will take place throughout the day as part of the PERFORM! Festival, there will also be numerous performances in the outdoor area of the Neue Nationalgalerie.
The Musical Instrument Museum of the State Institute for Music Research invites visitors to experience music with all their senses - simply heavenly! A guided tour shows how natural materials and animals make music possible - from swan bones to bird organs. As part of an architectural tour, you can get to know the whole house right up to the roof terrace.
The Ibero-American Institute is also all about music: a fusion of Latin American folk, jazz and chamber music sounds in the afternoon is followed in the early evening by the "Tropicália Lounge" with Brazilian sounds from bossa nova to tropicalismo on vinyl.
There will be dancing on the Paradise carpet in St Matthew's Church, a curator's tour will provide an opportunity to get to know the current exhibition and in the evening there will be an open-air church service with General Superintendent Julia Helmke and Pastor Hannes Langbein.
In the Kulturforum tree nursery, enchanted paradises will be created or visions of paradise will be drawn on the large blackboards with coloured chalk.
At the Social Science Research Centre Berlin, sociologist Eva Illouz talks to theologian Simon Kuntze about emojis and likes - and what is at stake in the profit spiral in social media. Research meets architecture during a guided tour of the building.
You can find the entire programme on the website www.kulturforum.de or download the flyer PDF.