2016 - News - Detail Page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

From Thomas Gainsborough on the 300th anniversary of his birth, Ai Weiwei at the Bode Museum, Arnold Böcklin beyond the myth, international abstraction, artist’s books by Jonathan Meese and pharaohs to touch, a children’s biennial making its debut, and the reopening of the Pergamon Museum as the crowning glory: In 2027, museum visitors to the SPK’s institutions can look forward to a diverse programme.

The course of the exhibition year so far also gives cause for hope. As SPK President Marion Ackermann explains: “The SPK’s museums are enjoying an exceptionally good exhibition year. The Neue Nationalgalerie and the Hamburger Bahnhof, the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Bode Museum and the Neues Museum are recording rising visitor numbers, in some cases in double figures. We are also seeing a significant increase of 30 per cent in annual passes. This gives us cause for optimism for 2027 as well, a year that will not only mark the reopening of the Pergamon Museum but will also offer many opportunities to see familiar works in a new light and to discover something new – from outstanding works of art history to international perspectives on contemporary art. Particularly in these times, we want to create spaces that showcase diversity, forge connections and bring together different perspectives. That is what the SPK stands for.”

Highlights from the museums

• The Gemäldegalerie is staging a special exhibition to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of the painter Thomas Gainsborough, alongside around 90 photographic works by international photographers such as Jeff Wall, Candida Höfer, Carrie Mae Weems and Martin Parr as part of the exhibition ‘The Art of Seeing’.
• The Alte Nationalgalerie is dedicating an exhibition to Arnold Böcklin to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth; for the first time, it brings together four surviving versions of his most famous motif, ‘The Isle of the Dead’, and celebrates the rediscovery of the Lithuanian artist Čiurlionis.
• In its Cranach exhibition, the Kupferstichkabinett explores themes of the politicisation and instrumentalisation of art in the 16th century.
• The Art Library delves into Jonathan Meese’s provocative world of images, language and ideas and, in collaboration with the artist, is developing a large-scale installation for the Kulturforum. Also: the exhibition ‘Bizarr’ tells the story of this word, which first appeared in the 14th century in Dante’s ‘Inferno’ and has since been used to describe anything that transcends the boundaries of the normal.
• The Hamburger Bahnhof – National Gallery of Contemporary Art is dedicating its first comprehensive retrospective exhibition in Berlin to the American artist James Turrell.
• The exhibition ‘Ai Weiwei at the Bode Museum’ (working title) brings together one of the defining voices of international contemporary art with the collection, history and architecture of the Bode Museum.
• With the exhibition ‘Große Freiheit. International Abstraction after 1945’, the Neue Nationalgalerie broadens its perspective to the global stage. The Neue Nationalgalerie is also honouring Katharina Sieverding with her first retrospective in Berlin.
• From March, ancient Egyptian culture can be literally ‘touched and grasped’ at theNeues Museum: all exhibits can be felt in their original size. Scents such as incense, myrrh and lotus complement the tactile experience.
• In 2027, a Children’s Biennale will take place for the first time in Berlin at several SPK venues. This internationally oriented exhibition format presents contemporary art and combines international artistic perspectives with the viewpoints and themes of a younger generation.
• The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition project at the Museum of European Cultures explores places that have vanished from the map.
• The Ethnological Museum at the Humboldt Forum shows how indigenous communities in Costa Rica experience their rich natural environment. Furthermore, from the end of 2026, the Ethnological Museum’s permanent exhibition at the Humboldt Forum will be expanded to include a section on Togo.
• In ‘Music on Demand’, the Museum of Musical Instruments recounts the 150-year history of sound recording and reproduction.
• The multi-day intervention ‘Aura’ by the Gipsformerei, held in the historic model hall in Charlottenburg, raises questions about originals and copies, authenticity and cultural memory. In Dahlem, the Plaster Casting Workshop is also presenting itself under the title ‘White Noise’ as an open resonant space comprising moulds, casts and the stories behind the objects.
• And on 4 June 2027, Berlin’s international museum crowd-puller will finally return: the Pergamon Museum will reopen its doors!

Further information 

• Press release: “What’s on in 2027: Highlights at the museums of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation” (2 September 2026)