8 Must-See Shows During Gallery Weekend Berlin 2026 Artsy

Berlin's annual gallery marathon returns this spring with a familiar premise and a fresh sense of momentum: more than 50 galleries spread across the city, a dense schedule of openings, and a program that makes a strong case for painting's continued relevance. Founded in 2005 by a cooperative of local gallerists, Gallery Weekend Berlin was designed as an alternative to the fair model, and the 2026 edition again turns the city itself into the main venue.

The larger citywide program extends well beyond commercial galleries. At Neue Nationalgalerie, Beeple (Mike Winkelman) is presenting“Beeple. Regular Animals,” a project featuring robotic dogs with human heads and references ranging from Andy Warhol to Elon Musk. At Gropius Bau, Marina Abramović's“Balkan Erotic Epic” brings together multiscreen video and performance-driven imagery in an exploration of mythic ritual and sexual energy.

Two other Berlin institutions are adding to the weekend's scale. The Boros Collection will reopen its bunker of contemporary art on May 3, offering another look at a collection that spans the 1990s to the present. Meanwhile, KaDeWe is staging a 24/7 pop-up presentation of multimedia and kinetic art in its windows, with work by eleven artists including David Byrne, Hanne Darboven (1941–2009), and Kayode Ojo.

Within the gallery circuit, several exhibitions stand out for the range of approaches they bring to painting and image-making. At Esther Schipper, American artist Tauba Auerbach (b. 1981) presents“Easy Assembly” from May 1 to June 20, continuing a long inquiry into perception through bright, materially precise paintings. At Galerie Max Hetzler, London-based artist Vivien Zhang (b. 1990) makes a debut solo appearance with“Field Conditions,” on view from Apr. 30 to June 27, where botanical forms and map-based references fold geopolitics into abstraction.

Sprüth Magers will show Robert Elfgen's“utopisch” from May 2 to Aug. 1, while Capitain Petzel presents Rodney McMillian's“In Other Realms” from Apr. 29 to June 13. Together, the exhibitions suggest a Berlin weekend less interested in spectacle alone than in the slow pressure of looking - at surfaces, systems, and the unstable line between image and idea.

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