FREIRAUM KUNST
Akademie der Künste Goes Bellevue
Under the Patronage of the Federal President
13 – 28 Jun 2026

From 13‒28 June 2026, the Akademie der Künste is realising a two-week pop-up gallery at Schloss Bellevue (Bellevue Palace) and is converting the official seat of the Federal President into a temporary venue for the arts.

As the seat of the head of state, Schloss Bellevue is a symbol of our liberal democracy – and consequently not a neutral exhibition space. The artworks are deliberately placed in a dynamic relationship with the location, which stands for liberal, democratic representation and political symbolism.

This unique exhibition has been made possible because Schloss Bellevue must be emptied before its renovation, and the Federal President is making the temporarily vacant rooms available for art. The building itself serves as an exhibit. In its vacant condition, it appears as a historical and political space. The artistic contributions respond to this context. They can take issue with it, shift its meaning and/or open up new interpretations.

The following Akademie der Künste members, among others, are participating in the exhibition:

Peter Badel, Rosa Barba, Carola Bauckholt, Alexandra Bircken, Jürgen Böttcher, Monica Bonvicini, Ann Cotten, Ayşe Erkmen, Jochen Gerz, Katharina Grosse, Hanna Hartman, Bjørn Melhus, Boris Mikhailov, Karin Sander, Matthias Sauerbruch, Hanns Schimansky, Gregor Schneider, Chiyoko Szlavnics, Wolfgang Tillmans and Manos Tsangaris. Moreover, the project’s initiators ‒ Christian Awe, El Bocho and Christopher Lehmpfuhl ‒ are also involved.

Anh-Linh Ngo, vice-president of the Akademie der Künste, and Cécile Wajsbrot, deputy director of the Literature Section, are the curators responsible for the entire presentation. The “Büro der öffentlichen Sache” (Office of the Public Realm), curated by Akademie President Manos Tsangaris, is an artistic and discursive space that sees itself as an open forum where artistic perspectives can break down social polarisation.

13–28 Jun, 11 am – 7 pm (Mon–Fri) and 10 am – 7 pm (Sat, Sun)

To accompany the exhibition at Schloss Bellevue, Akademie President Manos Tsangaris has initiated the “Office of the Public Realm“, a discursive-performative format that not only addresses the concept of the public sphere but actively explores it. Through conversations, artistic contributions and collaborative situations, a space is created in which aesthetic and social perspectives converge.

19 Jun 5–7 pm

The Climate Group of the European Alliance of Academies cordially invites you to Café Climate at Schloss Bellevue – an event that provides an opportunity to openly discuss the impact of the climate crisis on our daily lives, democracy, art and culture. Featuring experts Benjamin Beuerle, Nina Fischer and Maria Gimenez, and artists Leon Erhorn, Petja Ivanova, Iris ter Schiphorst and Cécile Wajsbrot.

21 Jun 11 am – 2 pm

Together with her long-standing supporters Christine Fischer, Tatsiana Khomich and Kai Ohrem, Maria Kalesnikava will speak at a matinee event about the role of art and culture in democratic societies, her commitment to a free Belarus and the power of solidarity – even across national borders.

Anh-Linh Ngo, vice-president of the Akademie der Künste and curator, on FREIRAUM KUNST:

The Call

Everyone wants to be seen and heard. Every action is an existential struggle for attention, a perpetual appeal: “Hello? Can anybody hear me?” Jochen Gerz’s work To Call until Exhaustion is an expression of this longing in condensed form: the artist repeatedly calls “Hello” into the void until he reaches the point of physical exhaustion.

Created in 1972, the work now reads as a precise diagnosis of our time. The constant possibility of self-expression in the digital realm suggests agency. The gap between the promise of participation and the lack of impact breeds disappointment and undermines trust in democratic processes.

The Site

Against the backdrop of this crisis of representation, Schloss Bellevue itself comes into focus as part of the Akademie der Künste’s temporary exhibition. As the official seat of the German president, it is emblematic of how politics is manufactured in the public imagination.

Its temporary transformation into a space for art makes this function visible. Before renovation begins, the vacant palace is to be opened to art and the public for two weeks. In its emptied state, the building itself becomes an exhibit: a historical, political and symbolic space.

The Exhibition

The exhibition refrains from subordinating the works to a single thesis. Openness thus emerges as a fundamental condition of artistic practice. This encapsulates the power of art: it shapes perception without determining it and hones the ability to acknowledge and tolerate difference.

As a critical organ of perception in society, art is a laboratory in which individuals learn to see for themselves, to distinguish and to judge. The political dimension of art lies in the entanglement of aesthetic education and political judgement.

The Public Sphere

This openness also informs the Office of the Public Realm, which concludes the exhibition. Here, the perspective shifts from observation to involvement. Conversations, performances and participatory formats show that public life and personal engagement are constructed.

The calls at the beginning and the conversations at the end reveal the fragile conditions of both art and democracy. Both depend on a “Freiraum”: a protected space that enables openness, possibility and dissent, yet can never be taken for granted. Their freedom must be defended again and again.

Schloss Bellevue has been the official principal residence of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany since 1994. The structure, built in the neoclassical style in 1786 in Berlin-Tiergarten, is one of the city’s oldest surviving palaces. The building will remain closed in its entirety for extensive refurbishment, which begins in summer 2026.

The Akademie der Künste was founded in 1696 and is celebrating its 330th anniversary in 2026. As an international community of some 400 artists from the fields of the visual arts, architecture, music, literature, performing arts and film and media arts, it envisions itself as a place where artistic freedom and social debate can thrive.