The Neue Nationalgalerie opens Ulay, Ulay & Abramović on Friday 27 November 2026 at 7pm, the evening before the retrospective opens to the public. The Staatliche Museen list the opening on their events calendar; the art listing Index Berlin gives it as 7–10pm.
It is an unusual homecoming. Fifty years ago, in December 1976, Ulay walked out of this building with Carl Spitzweg's The Poor Poet under his arm and hung it in a Kreuzberg guest-worker family's flat. The museum is now dedicating its main exhibition of the winter to him, curated by its director Klaus Biesenbach with Ricarda Bergmann and Alenka Gregorič. The background to the theft is in our news story.
What to expect
The exhibition runs from early Polaroids and the film of the Spitzweg action to the twelve years of performances with Marina Abramović, including Rest Energy and The Lovers. Imponderabilia is performed live in the show every day from 28 November. The building is also showing Maurizio Cattelan and Christoph Schlingensief this winter.
Good to know
- When: Friday 27 November 2026, from 7pm
- Where: Neue Nationalgalerie, Potsdamer Straße 50, 10785 Berlin
- Entry: the museum hasn't said whether the opening is free or ticketed; check the exhibition page closer to the date. From 28 November the exhibition costs 12 € (6 €).
- Content note: explicit nudity and depictions of injury and violence
- Access: step-free via the ramp at Reichpietschufer
- Getting there: bus 200, M29, M48, M85 Potsdamer Brücke, or S+U Potsdamer Platz, about ten minutes on foot
Nearby
A few minutes away at the Kulturforum, the Kunstbibliothek opens BIZARRE on the same day. Ten minutes south, Sean Scully and Kapwani Kiwanga are on view at Galerie Max Hetzler and Galerie Tanja Wagner.