The second part of the exhibition is dedicated to the use of polaroids by other photographers, since its invention to modern times. The presented images all come from the OstLicht collection in Wien, whose mission is to collect images and cameras worldwide to preserve the memory of all photographic media alive. These artworks present the ability of polaroids to convey many different forms of expression, from their intimate use to the most technical one.
Particularly stunning is the room showcasing the artworks by Maurizio Galimbertim, Marike Schuurman and Charles Johnstone. Each of these artists uses the medium in a different way: Galimberti works on mosaical portraits, obsessing over fragmentation; Schuurman uses them in a chemical sense to analyze the pollution inflicted to lakes by humans or the erosion of memories; Johnstone creates with them intimate artists’ books. In whichever way polaroids are used, their impact on the history of art and imagery is undeniable.
LAS Art Foundation is showcasing the exhibition Laura Provost: We Felt A Star Dying at Kraftwerk Berlin until May 4. This incredible exhibition combines art with science, using quantum physics as the common ground. Quantum physics is a fairly recent science, which suggests an unsettling concept: the inability to predict everything in a precise matter. Particles can exist in multiple states at once, be linked across distances, and cross barriers that were previously thought as impenetrable. The astonishing novelty of this principle is that quantum physics demonstrates us how everything is interconnected in so many and unexpected ways. The exhibition uses different media to illustrate it, from video installations to immersive experiences.
Laura Provost’s work questions our perception of the world, and has the ability to move us while addressing important topics such as migration, climate change, and interspecies relationships. She prompts us to realize the importance of all things, even the simplest and smallest ones. Presented in the beautiful industrial spaces of Kraftwerk Berlin, this exhibition is a journey across the universe, in all its forms of expression.
Schwules Museum is an institution whose goal is to research, preserve, and show the culture and history of queer individuals and of sexual and gender diversity, by presenting diverse experiences, stories, and perspectives in their plurality. The two current exhibitions manifest this intention in the most powerful and moving way. Young Birds from Strange Mountains – Queer Arts from Southeast Asia and its Diaspora tells us the story of various queer artists from Southeast Asia, whose work shows different attempts to rebuild and re-investigate the ancestral knowledge of their lands while engaging with multiple contemporary practices.
The exhibition makes us walk through different memories and its power lies in the beauty of an archive that can be touched by the visitors. It is an archive that is both lived and living. All the works presented in the exhibition show us the importance of love and solidarity, and the value of community and connection. We engage with the stories of so many different people, empathizing with their quest for expression.
The second exhibition, Strategies of Resilience – Insights into the Life of Eberhardt Brucks shows us the personal archive of the artist Eberhardt Brucks (1917-2008). It tells the story of the remarkable strength and resilience that shaped his life as a gay man who was born in times of great hardships. Eberhardt witnessed the Second World War and its horrors, and also had to endure a time when being gay was illegal and expressing oneself was incredibly dangerous. Nonetheless, he was able to repeatedly find loopholes to live out his identity and sexuality, despite all the odds he was facing. A quest for expression in its utmost form, his life is a historical document of the fundamental human need to express who we are without constraints.
This brave perspective continues through the exhibition with the works of four contemporary artists, who also faced their own struggles and overcame them through love, community and self-expression. This second exhibition is centered on archival practices as well. Especially sad and powerful is the video projection I Don’t Want To Be Just A Memory by Sarnt Utamachote, where we are confronted with the themes of love and death through the objects of the people who were lost, paired with the lives and memories of the loved ones they left behind.
Lothar Wolleh (1930-1979) was an acclaimed German photographer who witnessed the political events of his time. The current exhibition at Lothar Wolleh Raum, The Enemy and his People – Portraits from the Soviet Union focuses on a specific and impactful period of the artist’s life. Lothar was arrested by the Soviet occupation forces in Germany and sent to a labor camp in Siberia for five years. The labor camp in question was Vorkuta, one of the most dreadful gulags in Russia. It was a place of great hostility in the north of the Arctic Circle, just a few kilometers away from the labor camp where Alexei Navalny died last year.
During his imprisonment, Lothar Wolleh and other inmates created a camera, which he then used to snap some pictures of his harsh surroundings. Photography became a way to survive the terrible conditions they were enduring, a means of expression and hope amid the inhospitable environment they were living in. These pictures mark the first part of the exhibition and are paired with a selection of other images that he took after he was released.
A couple of years later, he returned to the Soviet Union as a free man, and he decided to document the reality of its population. His work shows us the sadness but also the tenderness hidden behind its people's eyes. It lies as a manifesto to remember those who were and still are wrongfully harmed and accused, and wants to celebrate the human ability to fight back. “They remind us that individual humanity remains alive even in times of the greatest hostility and must be visible in order to overcome what divides us". A lesson we should never forget.
janinebeangallery is presenting the solo exhibition of Peter Doherty, Felt Better Alive, until April 26. The musician, known as the frontman of the bands The Libertines and Babyshambles, has also been working with visual arts for years, creating diaries, paintings, and drawings. This exhibition presents for the first time the full-scale connection between the two arts he practices.
His paintings were created alongside his new album, and the whole exhibition goes around this deep interconnection between the two. The artist takes us on a chaotic journey across pain and happiness, and makes us dwell on his sketches, observing the smallest details hidden in them. Doherty is an artist who has found different ways to express himself, and finally had the chance to pair and present them with this exhibition.
The Neue Nationalgalerie invites viewers to an engaging survey of the work of the acclaimed artist Yoko Ono. Opening on April 11, Yoko Ono: Dream Together is curated in such a way that it requires the audience a deeper interaction with the artworks. Collective actions include various sensory practices such as repairing, restoring, imagining and dreaming.
From sorting out river stones with Cleaning Piece (1996) to repairing broken ceramic cups with Mend Piece (1966) the artist encourages us to face fundamental questions head on, without intermediaries. Her practice talks about the power of community as an important means of expression and underlines its ability to inspire peace and to imagine a different world.
Yoko Ono: Dream Together is shown on the occasion of the Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind overview, which can be seen in Gropius Bau from April 11 to August 31, 2025. Concurrently Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k) is presenting her work TOUCH in the context of their billboard series dedicated to showcasing art outside the walls of the museum, directly on the streets. This piece connects the dots with the two exhibitions, by summarizing her practice with yet another immediate and powerful suggestion.
Johanna-Maria Fritz is an incredibly talented photojournalist and a member of the Ostkreuz Agency since 2019. At only 30 years of age, she has already traveled the world, documenting various war zones and conflict areas. Her new exhibition in Berlin, Zeit Der Umbrüche (Time of Transition) is organized by the Freundeskreis Willy Brandt Haus and tells us about her brave practice. Fritz's storytelling is distinctive, as she takes time to witness a situation, and always tries to go back and check what has happened to the places she documented.
The exhibition is insightful in showing us many of the countries she has been to. Her pictures allow us to go to Afghanistan with her, to witness the return of the Talibans and the lives of many Afghan women, who turn their terrible condition into a form of resistance and expression. They make us travel to Ukraine to observe the impact of the Russian invasion on the population. They bring us to Romania to learn about a historical family of witches, who passes on their tradition from generation to generation, up to contemporary times and means. We discover a dystopic ghost town in Germany that is being used to eventually prepare armies for future wars.
We cross various countries to investigate the absurd businesses and the historical discrimination related to the concept of female virginity. Her work has the power to express this all, and it makes us connect with people and stories from different locations and backgrounds.
This April's selection of exhibitions to see in Berlin has taken us all over the world, showing us the hardships endured by many people but carrying with it their remarkable resilience. There are so many forms of expression that can inspire us in so many different ways. They can be a powerful means of survival or can become a compelling call to action. They represent a way for all of us to unleash our potential, to remember, and to learn. They make us reveal who we are and encourage us to overcome any distance. Don’t miss the chance to visit these captivating exhibitions and see where this journey takes you.
