On the occasion of the Polish EU Council Presidency, the European Alliance of Academies is organising a diverse programme to focus on the newly emerging artistic and cultural landscape in Poland. Artistic and discursive contributions will address the traces left behind by the PiS government's interference in artistic freedom and how the Polish art and culture scene is dealing with the political changes. In English, Polish and German.

The exhibition is a long-term project by three photographers on the Thuringian village of Berka, that extends far beyond the borders of that village. The more than 120 photographs in the exhibition interweave personal destinies and world history, autobiographical references and artistic approaches. All works depict one location over a period of 70 years. As part of EMOP Berlin – European Month of Photography 2025.

In times of crisis, we let ourselves to be polarised by images. We want to use our own voice – and images – to counter the increasing division. But what knowledge can photographic images still convey? Isn’t it the camera that stands between us? This central festival exhibition of EMOP Berlin – European Month of Photography 2025 presents projects by around 20 artists that stand for listening and learning from Others through their own voices.

Supporting art and culture is not a matter of taste – it is a vital investment in a democratic and open society. Let us make it clear what happens when culture falls silent: The #minutestrike is a nationwide symbolic protest against the existentially threatening budget cuts in the cultural sector. Every cultural event, performance, and exhibition will be interrupted for one minute.

The Schaudepot (display depot) provides an exclusive insight into the Akademie der Künste’s outstanding collection of architectural models. The highlights of the collection can be seen in a permanent exhibition with a selection of the more than 750 models from the Architectural Archives by over 50 artists. Temporary exhibitions explore current topics relating to architecture and urban planning. Guided tours in German.

Bertolt Brecht's study, Helene Weigel's conservatory, Anna Seghers' “crow's nest” : Regular tours offer visitors a chance to view the homes and studies of the writer Bertolt Brecht, actress and theatre director Helene Weigel and the writer Anna Seghers, largely kept in their original condition. The tours provide an insight into how these three major international figures in the arts world of the 20th century lived and worked. In German.

In the middle of the political “Tauwetter-Periode” (thaw period), the master students of the German Akademie der Künste celebrate carnival in the coal cellar in 1957 and 1958. The murals by Manfred Böttcher, Harald Metzkes, Ernst Schroeder and Horst Zickelbein can be visited as a unique testimony to unofficial art in the GDR and as part of the eventful history of the institution and the building. Guided tours in German.

The Akademie der Künste is an international community of artists that currently totals 427 members in its six Sections Visual Arts, Architecture, Music, Literature, Performing Arts, Film and Media Arts. It is an exhibition and event location. Its Archives collectively form one of the most important interdisciplinary archives on 20th century art. Founded in 1696, the Akademie der Künste in Berlin is one of the oldest cultural institutes in Europe.