The Berlin issue
Sophie Calle at Hamburger Bahnhof: Berlin's Big Contemporary Art Show This Winter
Hamburger Bahnhof has turned its halls over to the winter shows. Which ones are worth an afternoon, which one you have to book before you fly, and what still opens on a Monday.
By Robin van der MeerThe slow way through a fast city
Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart has brought five artists back for the winter, all of whom once had studios in the halls next door. Their show runs until next summer, and the €16 ticket covers it along with everything else in the building. If you see one contemporary show in Berlin, make it this one.
Inside Hamburger Bahnhof
The museum is a 19th-century railway terminus. After dark, Dan Flavin's green and yellow neon washes the long pale front.
The winter show is 'Next Door', on until 27 June 2027. Olafur Eliasson has made circles of light that fade in and out to a sound composition, and Thomas Demand has hung large photographs in floating pavilions. Tacita Dean and Bruce Nauman made a new film for it, and Tomás Saraceno's '14 Billions (Working Title)' is in there as well.
Three more shows run alongside it. Ryuichi Sakamoto's 'seeing sound, hearing time' is on until 20 June 2027. Shilpa Gupta's 'What Still Holds' closes on 3 January 2027. Lina Lapelytė's 'We Make Years Out of Hours' closes on 10 January 2027. Allow two to three hours for the lot.
Admission is €16, or €8 concession, and covers the temporary shows too. Under-18s go free but have to pick up a free day ticket at the counter. From 1 December the museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00; until then it opens at 11:00 at weekends and stays open to 20:00 on Thursday. It is closed on Mondays either way. The walk from Hauptbahnhof is longer than it looks, so check the route the day before.
Plan your Berlin trip
Live prices from our booking partners.
Free cancellation on many rooms. We may earn a commission when you book.
Glass hall on Potsdamer Straße
Neue Nationalgalerie is Mies van der Rohe's pavilion of black steel and glass. Inside it is one hall with no columns, raised on a granite terrace. Maurizio Cattelan's 'NIGHT' is on until 7 March 2027, and 'Ulay, Ulay & Abramović' opens on 28 November and runs to 2 May 2027. A ticket for everything is €20, or €14 for the collection displays alone. Entry is free on the first Thursday of the month, 16:00 to 20:00.
It is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00, and until 20:00 on Thursday. The entrance is on Potsdamer Straße, with step-free access on the Reichpietschufer side. Some of the collection rooms are shut for reinstallation, so come for the temporary shows and treat the rest as a bonus.
Schlingensief at Gropius Bau
Gropius Bau hands its whole building to one artist at a time, and this winter it is Christoph Schlingensief, until 17 January. The show opens with the big installation 'Kaprow City' in the glass-roofed courtyard, then runs through eight rooms of installations, video and archive material. Paul Poet's film 'Ausländer Raus! Schlingensiefs Container' screens daily at 16:00, except Tuesdays.
The show carries content warnings for racist and ableist language and for colonial violence, and it uses strobe effects. The €15 ticket also gets you 'Kreuzberg: Kunst und Migration seit 1960', in the same building until 17 January. It opens at 12:00 on weekdays and 10:00 at weekends, closes at 19:00, and shuts on Tuesdays.
Auguststraße and the bunker
KW Institute for Contemporary Art sits in a former margarine factory in a cobbled Mitte courtyard on Auguststraße. Susan Hiller's 'Bad Dreams' runs until 10 January along with two other shows, and the BPA// exhibition 'Undercurrents' opens on 5 December. Entry is €10, and free if you are under 18. One Thursday a month is free for everyone. It opens Wednesday to Monday, 11:00 to 19:00. An hour inside is plenty, and the street outside is lined with commercial galleries you can walk on to.
Boros Collection fills a windowless concrete air-raid bunker on Reinhardtstraße in Mitte, walkable from Friedrichstraße station. You can only get in on a guided tour, booked ahead. The tour lasts an hour and a half and covers both the art and the building. The bunker went up in 1942 as a shelter and was a techno club by 1992. Tickets are €20, or €12 reduced, and you choose English or German when you book. The current hang is Collection #4, with work by Tomma Abts, Ed Atkins and Pol Taburet. Tours run on set days only, so sort this one before you fly.
A brewery in Neukölln
KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art is out in Neukölln, in the boiler house of the old Berliner Kindl brewery, a tall brick hall with arched industrial windows. Mischa Kuball's 'boiler house' fills that space until 30 May 2027, and it is built around the history of the building. Two more shows are on in the machine house next door, including Kira Freije's 'Between Sunlight', until 21 February. You pick what you pay: €10, €7 or €4 reduced. It opens at 12:00 Wednesday to Sunday, until 20:00 on Wednesday and 18:00 the rest of the week.
Mondays and Tuesdays
Most of Berlin's art museums close on Monday, and the rest close on Tuesday. Two places are open every day, and a third covers the Tuesday gap.
C/O Berlin is open daily, 11:00 to 20:00, in the low white Amerika Haus a few steps from S+U Zoologischer Garten. Carrie Mae Weems's 'The Heart of the Matter' runs until 3 February 2027, with two photography prize shows beside it until 20 January. Entry is €15, or €8 reduced, and free if you are 18 or under. Go in the morning if you are coming on a Saturday, as part of the Weems show is sometimes closed off from 15:30 for events. The lift is out of service.
Fotografiska Berlin is open from 10:00 to 23:00 every day, so it is the one you can still do properly after dinner. It is in the old Kunsthaus Tacheles on Oranienburger Straße, where the scarred graffiti-covered shell has been reglazed and there is a bar on the roof. Roger Ballen's show runs until 14 March 2027 and Lauren Greenfield's 'Social Studies' until 12 January. Entry is €15. On Tuesdays from 18:00 two tickets cost the price of one if you book online, which works out at €7.50 each.
URBAN NATION Museum for Urban Contemporary Art on Bülowstraße in Schöneberg is free to get into, and the front of the building is repainted as an artwork for every show. 'Love Letters to the City' brings together more than 50 street artists, among them Banksy, Blek le Rat and Martha Cooper. The question they are all working on is who public space belongs to. It opens at 10:00 on Tuesday and Wednesday and at 12:00 Thursday to Sunday, closing at 18:00 early in the week and 20:00 later on.
Before you go
Hamburger Bahnhof and the Neue Nationalgalerie close on Mondays. Gropius Bau and KW close on Tuesdays. KINDL closes on both. Book the bunker tour before you travel. Gropius Bau is shut on 22, 23, 24 and 31 December, and the street-art museum for the whole of the Christmas and New Year week.
See the Berlin guide and the Berlin hotel search.
Before you go
What is the big show at Hamburger Bahnhof this winter?
'Next Door' brings back five artists who once worked in studios in the halls beside the museum, and it runs until 27 June 2027. In it you get Olafur Eliasson's circles of light, Thomas Demand's photographs in floating pavilions, and a new film by Tacita Dean and Bruce Nauman.
How much does Hamburger Bahnhof cost and what does the ticket cover?
Admission is €16, or €8 concession, and it covers the museum and whatever temporary exhibitions are running. Under-18s go free but still need to collect a free day ticket at the counter.
Which Berlin art venues are open on a Monday?
C/O Berlin and Fotografiska Berlin open every day. KW and the Berlin street-art museum close on Tuesday instead, so between them you can always find something on.
Do I have to book the Boros Collection in advance?
Yes. You can only see the bunker on a guided tour of an hour and a half, booked ahead, and tours run on set days. Tickets cannot be refunded or rebooked, so choose English or German carefully.
Where can I see art late in the evening in Berlin?
Fotografiska Berlin stays open until 23:00 every day. On Tuesdays from 18:00, two tickets cost the price of one if you book online. Hamburger Bahnhof and the Neue Nationalgalerie both run to 20:00 on Thursday.
