Mark Dion. Delirious Toys
A Wunderkammer of Toys
8 September 2024 to 9 February 2025
For the 2023 art autumn, the US artist Mark Dion has created a work of art from objects in the toy collection of the Stadtmuseum Berlin, which was first on display at the Museum Nikolaikirche in Berlin. With hundreds of exhibits, his installations not only transcend space and time, but also take a critical look at children's toys themselves.
For the exhibition, Mark Dion spent months researching the collection of around 70,000 objects, one of the largest in Germany. The result is a kind of labyrinth of board games; a pyramid of animals, a circuit with an imaginary race between vehicles of all kinds and other installations. Dolls, military toys and a “poison cabinet” with borderline or cross-border toys are also on display in the exhibition.
Dance Worlds
27 September 2024 to 16 February 2025
Even in the earliest cultures, dance was an important part of rituals, ceremonies, festivals and entertainment. It may also have played a central role in the transmission of stories before they were recorded in writing.
The exhibition presents dance as a global form of representation and expression. It does not tell the history of dance, but shows multi-perspective interweaving stories. It does not follow a chronological line, but highlights dance as an essential part of our existence under thematic aspects. This means a concept that transcends time and space and the inclusion of many dance forms.
Since dance rarely stands alone, the exhibition also looks at its many connections to other art forms. The exhibits range from dance representations in early cultures to modern visual arts and examples of contemporary dance.
Save Land. United for Land
6 December 2024 to 1 June 2025
Our soils take up to hundreds of years to form. But one extreme event is enough to deplete soil in a matter of minutes. We are degrading 100 million hectares of healthy and productive lands each year; an area roughly three times the size of Germany. Land restoration is of the utmost urgency not only for ourselves, but also for biodiversity and the world’s climate. Land is of existential importance for our lives, and it is a treasure of immeasurable value that must be preserved.
The immersive exhibition Save Land was developed in partnership with the UNCCD-G20 Global Land Initiative. It brings together insightful contemporary art positions with exhibits from the natural sciences and uses the latest media technologies to understand the global situation of land. What is the state of our soils in cities and on agricultural and industrial land? And is there any untouched nature left on Earth? What can we do to protect our soils? The exhibition aims to inspire action for the common good.
An exhibition organised by the Bundeskunsthalle and the UNCCD-G20 Global Land Initiative to mark the 30th anniversary of the UNCCD
Susan Sontag
Seeing and Being Seen
14 March to 28 September 2025
Susan Sontag studied the nature and impact of visual media throughout her career. As early as 1977, having recognised the decisive influence of photography in our media-driven society, she published On Photography, her most widely read book, in which she argued that the act of taking a photograph is more than just passive observation. In view of the dramatic proliferation of photographs of war and atrocities in the wake of globalisation, she reiterated her warning against the dangers of apathy and visual numbness in her 2003 book Regarding the Pain of Others.
The exhibition Susan Sontag. Seeing and Being Seen focuses on her observations on photography and traces Sontag’s theories and thoughts on the subject. It also explores her involvement with queer culture, her stance on the discrimination against people infected with HIV and her own struggle with cancer. Moreover, it shines a light on Sontag as a film enthusiast and director and portrays her as an independent woman who rebelled against society throughout her life.
Paramodernism
Life Reform Movements from 1900 onwards
11 April to 10 August 2025
Freedom! Shaking off the constraints of bourgeois life, capitalism and industrial society. This was the dream of a great many young people around 1900 – and they set about making it come true. Some of them embarked on a new life in reform colonies far away from urban areas. The desire for a peaceful existence in harmony with nature was at the heart of these ambitions, as were new ideas about health, physical culture and spirituality – a new attitude to life that went on to find expression in a new aesthetic.
In art and design, Art Nouveau and Expressionism introduced new creative ideas. The reform movement also found expression in everyday life: vegetarianism, the rejection of bourgeois marriage and traditional gender roles, nudism, alternative forms of education and, last but by no means least, the media, which were essential to the propagation of these new ideas. Where did these new paths lead and which ideas do we still recognise in today’s zeitgeist? The exhibition sheds light on the ideals of the early life reform movements, but also examines individual reformers whose esoteric world view and idealisation of the ‘healthy’ body led them to embrace racist and nationalist ideologies. The exhibition is the first to look not only at the developments in Europe but also at the links to American counter-culture and the flower power movement.
Interactions x WEtransFORM
1 May to 26 October 2025
With Interactions, we are once again inviting you to engage in various forms of interactive play offered throughout the summer by numerous artistic interventions both inside and outside the Bundeskunsthalle. These interventions will give you, your family and friends the opportunity to play an active role in the enjoyment of art. The Bundeskunsthalle has designated 2025 as the Year of Sustainability, and the subject of sustainability will also inform the design of the Bundeskunsthalle’s popular roof garden, which will open on 1 May. Complementing a work that supports biodiversity, many of the installations on display combine interactivity with ecological concerns.
The museum plaza, the south lawn, the foyer and the inner courtyard will feature numerous works of art to complement the existing outdoor artworks, among them Jeppe Hein’s water pavilion, the Circular Appearing Rooms, which graces the plaza every summer, and Carsten Höller’s celebrated Bonn Slide, which connects the roof and the plaza, spiralling around its own axis. In the spirit of sustainability, Temitayo Ogunbiyi’s organic climbing frame, You will follow the Rhein and compose play (from his Playground series) and Olaf Nicolai’s three football goal walls, Camouflage/Torwand 1–3 [Croy, Kleff, Maier], will also remain in place and once again enrich the interactive playground.
Save the Date!
Interactions-Party: MAY DANCE
Wednesday, 30 April 2025, 8 pm–4 am
Grand Interactions Opening Programme
Thursday, 1 May, all day
WEtransFORM
New European Bauhaus and Beyond
6 June 2025 to 25 January 2026
The Bundeskunsthalle has designated 2025 the year of sustainability and ecological change. Central to the programme is an international exhibition and networking project on sustainable architecture and urban development in Europe. The exhibition invites visitors to take an active interest in the future of our built environment. The focus is on key practices such as the regeneration of existing buildings, climate-resilient answers to the challenge of extreme weather events, the promotion of biodiversity, circular recycling and the development of models for the future.
Among the projects on show will be those that deal with rising water levels on the coasts of the Netherlands, such as that of the architecture firm MVRDV (Rotterdam), or with the drought in Spain, such as that of the Office for Political Innovation (Madrid). New buildings constructed from natural materials such as rammed earth, for example by Anna Heringer (Laufen), or wood by Avanto Architects (Helsinki) will be presented, as will conversions of existing buildings. Innovative research projects such as NEST UMAR (Next Evolution in Sustainable Building Technologies / Urban Mining and Recycling) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology or the Hybrid Flax Pavilion by the University of Stuttgart explore new approaches to circular material cycles and computer-based construction methods.
An initiative of the Bundeskunsthalle in partnership with the New European Bauhaus of the EU Commission.
Wim Wenders
1 August 2025 to 11 January 2026
The internationally acclaimed filmmaker and artist Wim Wenders became famous with films such as The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972) and Wrong Move (1975), both based on works by Peter Handke, Alice in the Cities (1973/1974) and The American Friend (1977), based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith. Other cinematic milestones include Paris, Texas, which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 1984, and Wings of Desire (1987). He received an Oscar nomination and the European Film Award for Buena Vista Social Club (1999). In 2024, Perfect Days (2023) was nominated for an Oscar and celebrated as the best film in the Asia-Pacific region.
Wim Wenders is also renowned for his sensitive documentaries about fellow artists, among them Pina (2011) and, most recently, Anselm (2023) shot in 3D. The exhibition sets out to focus not only on his innovative cinematography but to present it alongside a survey of his wider creative output. This includes his photographs, collages and drawings, as well as his extensive personal film library, posters and his ‘electronic paintings’. Storyboards, props and behind-the-scenes material, inspiration drawn from art and music and, as a special highlight, a large immersive cinematographic installation with state-of-the-art image and sound technology invite visitors to immerse themselves in Wenders’ cinematic oeuvre. In the audio guide, Wim Wenders himself takes visitors through the exhibition and offers insight into the context and background of the exhibits.
An exhibition of the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, in cooperation with the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, and the Wim Wenders Foundation, Düsseldorf, with the generous support of Wenders Images, Berlin.
Expedition to the Worl's Oceans
3 October 2025 to 6 April 2026
Approximately 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, of which 96.5% is seawater. The oceans are thought to be the source of all life on earth. They provide raw materials, energy, food, transport routes and function as a climate machine. Humans have been using the ocean as a global highway for 4,000 years, so it seems almost paradoxical that today we know more about the surfaces of the Moon and Mars than about the world’s oceans, only 5% of whose depths have been explored.
The complexity of the theme of the world’s oceans means that it can be approached from many different perspectives and angles. Taking a cultural, historical and scientific approach, our immersive exhibition focuses on the exciting and pleasurable exploration and investigation of different facets of maritime worlds and their processes of transformation. The exhibition concentrates on three main subjects: The deep sea with its mysterious habitats and fragile ecosystem, the oceans as a contested economic space and the basis for globalisation and, finally, the oceans as a place of longing and a space for the transfer of people and ideas. These mysterious realms have always inspired creative and enquiring minds: alongside objects from the realms of nature, science and technology, a selection of historical artefacts and works of contemporary art sheds light on the endangered beauty of maritime flora and fauna and encourages reflection on the colourful and chequered history of man and the sea.
27th Federal Prize for Art Students
7 November 2025 to 4 January 2026
Preparations for the 27th Federal Prize for Art Students are underway. Since September, the nominations for the prize have been submitted by the participating universities and the jury members have been confirmed. In January 2025, the prize winners will be selected and awarded a production grant with which they can create works for the exhibition. The names of the prize winners will be announced in May in a press release issued by the cooperation partners and the simultaneous launch of the website for the 27th Federal Prize.
As in previous years, one of the participating universities will design both the website and the poster and catalog. For the 27th Federal Prize, this will be done by the Burg Giebichenstein Art Academy Halle.
The Federal Prize for Art Students is announced every two years by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It is a competition aimed at students from the 24 German art universities, who are gathered in the Rectors' Conference of the Art Universities. The Federal Prize is considered one of the most important awards for young artists in Germany.
The competition was launched in 1983 under the title Art Students Exhibit and has been presented by the Bundeskunsthalle since 1994. Each exhibition presents a section of the contemporary young art scene.
