The building housing the PalaisPopulaire has a checkered history. During the GDR era, it was a café that evolved into a trendy, "cosmopolitan" cultural hotspot with popular club nights. Almost every evening, a disco with dancing to hip-hop, funk, soul, and R&B was on the agenda. Regular guests, DJs, and artists share stories about how unique this place was in East Berlin, how joyfully and rebelliously people partied there, and what it took to get into the club. With Thomas Glass (aka Tute), Oliver Marquardt, Wolfram Neugebauer, Heidi Ramskugler and Abini Zöllner, among others, who often celebrated here at the time.

In German
Cost: 9€. Limited Capacity. You can obtain a ticket here.

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Photo: akg-imgess / ddrbidlarchiv.de

Based on the artworks in the outdoor area of the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time. Deutsche Bank Collection in Dialogue, which highlight the coexistence of different timelines, we embark on a journey through time in the immediate surroundings of PalaisPopulaire.

Together, we walk to Bebelplatz, which in the GDR served as a site for social gatherings. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Micha Ullmann’s memorial was erected there in remembrance of the book burnings. Just a few meters away is the capital branch of Deutsche Bank, an impressive example of architecture from the Wilhelminian era. In a guided tour with art historian Dr. Elisabeth Klotz, artworks from the Deutsche Bank Collection, including Neo Rauch, Imi Knoebel, K.H. Hödicke, and Salome, will be presented, while also examining the collection from a historical perspective.

In German 
Please bring your ID card with you.
Cost: 5€. Limited Capacity. You can obtain a ticket here.
Meeting point: in front of the PalaisPopulaire

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Photo: Disconto-Gesellschaft, Unter den Linden 33, um 1930

"For, In Your Tongue, I Cannot Fit" is the title of Shilpa Gupta’s series of works on censorship, oppression, and resistance. Gupta’s new work, exhibited in It’s Just a Matter of Time. Deutsche Bank Collection in Dialogue, is dedicated to 100 authors who, at various times and places (8th to 21st century), experienced state repression due to their beliefs, faith, and writings—mostly in the form of imprisonment.

As part of the 26th Poetry Festival, Gupta’s installation will be poetically activated by authors Atefe Asadi and Mariam Meetra members of the literary platform Weiter Schreiben.

In cooperation with Haus für Poesie

In Farsi/Dari and German
Limited Capacity. Please register here.
On International Museum Day is the entry into museums free of charge.

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Mariam Meetra © Heike Steinweg & Atefe Asadi © Camilo Pacon

The current exhibition at PalaisPopulaire, It’s Just a Matter of Time. Deutsche Bank Collection in Dialogue, explores the different temporalities that buildings, objects, and narratives have absorbed and carried across centuries. Our own stories are never free from the narratives of others and cannot be viewed separately from the past. The past often intrudes painfully into our present. In our literary series with Katharina von Uslar and Edgar Rai, we present literary works in which different time levels merge and in which subjective, highly distinct stories can be simultaneously true.

In cooperation with the book store Uslar & Rai

In German
Cost: 5€. Limited Capacity. You can obtain a ticket here.
The exhibition can be visited before the reading until 7pm.

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Edgar Rai and Katharina von Uslar, Photo: privat

Language cafés are places for meeting others – for people who want to practice and improve their German or simply feel like meeting other Berliners.

As part of the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time, visitors can participate in a language café at PalaisPopulaire. Each meeting will focus on one of the exhibited artworks and offer the opportunity to exchange thoughts on themes of time, memory and history.

The meetings will be led by Dóra Sági, an expert in German in multilingual contexts and aesthetic language education. Whether young or old, new or long-time Berliner – everyone is welcome at the language café to discuss art, society, and personal experiences over a drink.

In German
Pleaser register at the ticket shop.

Based on the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time. Deutsche Bank Collection in Dialogue, which highlights the coexistence of different timelines and contextualizes both the Deutsche Bank Collection and PalaisPopulaire, we showcase art in and around Deutsche Bank branches. In front of the new building on Otto-Suhr-Allee, Dirk Bell’s sculpture "2FREE SPACE" towers unmistakably. The signal-red steel cube, measuring six by six by six meters and weighing seven tons, bears the word “FREE,” which the artist has duplicated, merging the individual letters into a cubic form. Art historian Florian Ehrich will lead a tour of the branch, where artworks by Günther Förg, Katharina Grosse, and Andreas Gursky are also on display.

In German
Please bring your ID card with you.
Cost: 5€. Limited Capacity. You can obtain a ticket here.
Meeting point: Deutsche Bank, Otto-Suhr-Allee 6, in front of the sculpture by Dirk Bell

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Photo: Deutsche Bank Campus Otto-Suhr-Allee © Peer Schröder, Deutsche Bank

Posters in the city offer the opportunity to reach a large number of people. This medium is also used by the artists of the current exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time, who question the boundary between ‘private’ and ‘public’ or aim to provoke thought among a broad audience. For example, the phrase “It’s just a matter of time” on the poster by Felix González-Torres was always translated into the local language to ensure that everyone understood the message.

In this workshop, we will create posters together and think about which sentence, motif, or drawing is suitable for reaching a wide audience. Together, we will consider how we can convey a powerful message with our posters!

In German
Please register at the ticket shop.

Ayşe Erkmen is represented in the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time. Deutsche Bank Collection in Dialogue with her artwork "Balkanık" (2003/2025). Not a conventional artwork, this cake—a traditional recipe reinterpreted by the artist with her own instructions—combines ingredients from different cultures, symbolizing transnational exchange. During the exhibition, the cake will not only be on display in the café of PalaisPopulaire but also available for purchase.

The conceptual artist has been associated with Deutsche Bank’s art program for decades; in 2001, she realized the project "Shipped Ships" in Frankfurt am Main as part of Deutsche Bank’s “Moment - temporäre Kunst im öffentlichen Raum" series. Artworks by Ayşe Erkmen are part of the Deutsche Bank Collection.

As part of the current exhibition, Liberty Adrien, co-curator of It’s Just a Matter of Time, will talk to artist Ayşe Erkmen.

In English
Cost: 9€. Limited Capacity. You can obtain a ticket here.
The exhibition can be visited before the talk until 7pm.

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Ayşe Erkmen, Photo: Serdar TanyeliIstanbul; Liberty Adrien, Photo: Daniel Feistenauer

In the spirit of the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time. Deutsche Bank Collection in Dialogue, musicians from the Berliner Philharmoniker — Dietmar Schwalke (cello), Martin Heinze (double bass), and Andreas Arend on the Lyra Polyversalis — explore the interplay of musical temporalities.

The program spans three centuries of music, from the Baroque to the present day. The instruments themselves, some built in the eighteenth century, embody the passage of time, having been played by generations of musicians and carrying their legacy into the modern era. The Lyra Polyversalis, developed by Andreas Arend and Valentin Oelmüller between 2019 and 2021, blends elements of the guitar and viola da gamba, merging layers of historical craftsmanship into a contemporary instrument. Through free improvisation rooted in early music, the performance bridges historical and modern forms of musical expression. Hans Kunstovny’s Das Kurze und die sechzehn noch Kürzeren (The Short and the Sixteen Even Shorter Ones) playfully reflects on the concept of time with subtle wit.

The concert will be followed by a guided tour of the exhibition.

Booked out
Free choice of seats on site.

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Photo: Andreas Arend archlute by Ana Prada; Martin Heinze, Photo: Stefan Hoederath; Dietmar Schwalke, Photo Stefan Hoederath

Cornelia Schleime's self-portraits entitled "Auf weitere gute Zusammenarbeit" (1993) are based on her own Stasi files. With this collage, the artist exposes the oppressive surveil-lance climate and reports, and claims to report herself on her life during the GDR period.

Journalist and art historian Dr. Sarah Alberti talks to Schleime about these the presented works as well as and other rebellious works pieces by the artist.

In German
Cost: 9€. Limited Capacity. You can obtain a ticket here.
The exhibition can be visited before the reading until 7pm.

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Sarah Alberti, © Amac Garbe; Cornelia Schleime, © 2024 Cornelia Schleime, Foto: Birgit M‘ Pandzou, 2024

Based on the artworks in the outdoor area of the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time. Deutsche Bank Collection in Dialogue, which highlight the coexistence of different timelines, we embark on a journey through time in the immediate surroundings of PalaisPopulaire.

Together, we walk to Bebelplatz, which in the GDR served as a site for social gatherings. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Micha Ullmann’s memorial was erected there in remembrance of the book burnings. Just a few meters away is the capital branch of Deutsche Bank, an impressive example of architecture from the Wilhelminian era. In a guided tour with art historian Dr. Elisabeth Klotz, artworks from the Deutsche Bank Collection, including Neo Rauch, Imi Knoebel, K.H. Hödicke, and Salome, will be presented, while also examining the collection from a historical perspective.

In German
Please bring your ID card with you.
Cost: 5€. Limited Capacity. You can obtain a ticket here.
Meeting point: in front of the PalaisPopulaire

_______________

Photo: Disconto-Gesellschaft, Unter den Linden 33, um 1930

Language cafés are places for meeting others – for people who want to practice and improve their German or simply feel like meeting other Berliners.

As part of the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time, visitors can participate in a language café at PalaisPopulaire. Each meeting will focus on one of the exhibited artworks and offer the opportunity to exchange thoughts on themes of time, memory and history.

The meetings will be led by Dóra Sági, an expert in German in multilingual contexts and aesthetic language education. Whether young or old, new or long-time Berliner – everyone is welcome at the language café to discuss art, society, and personal experiences over a drink.

In German
Pleaser register at the ticket shop.

James Gregory Atkinson’s work "CET/CST" (2021) explores the complex reverberations of World War II history from a transatlantic perspective. Atkinson’s family history serves as the starting point for this analysis, offering insights into the deeply rooted mechanisms of structural racism. His work draws attention to the asynchronous reality experienced by African American soldiers who fought for the liberation of Europe while simultaneously facing racism both within the U.S. military and in German society.

As part of the current exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time. Deutsche Bank Collection in Dialogue, Carina Bukuts, co-curator of the show, will engage in a conversation with artist James Gregory Atkinson about additional temporalities and layers within this work and his broader practice.

In German
Cost: 9€. Limited Capacity. You can obtain a ticket here.
The exhibition can be visited before the talk until 7pm.

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James Gregory Atkinson © Photo: Eike Walkenhorst; Carina Bukuts © Photo: Marie Haefner

Featuring works from the Deutsche Bank Collection and selected loans, the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time explores the themes of time, memory, and change. During this guided tour in simple language, selected works will be presented and explained. Afterwards you will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences.

In German
Free of charge. Registration is not required for this tour.

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© Courtesy Shilpa Gupta and neugerriemschneider, Berlin, Photo: Mathias Schormann

Featuring works from the Deutsche Bank Collection and selected loans, the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time explores the themes of time, memory, and change. During this guided tour in conversation with the artist Veronika Kranzpiller in German Sign Language (DGS), selected works will be presented, and space created for intensive exchange

In German
Free of charge. Registration is not necessary for this tour.

Explore the works from the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time. Deutsche Bank Collection in Dialogue by phone. During the one-hour telephone tour, led by art historian Dr. Elisabeth Klotz, the works are explained in detail, the participants will discuss the background and themes of the exhibition.

In German
Free of charge. You can register at palais.populaire@db.com or by phone on (030) 20 20 93 15
You will receive the telephone access data for the event after you register. Sighted visitors are also welcome!

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Marianne Berenhaut, Abonné absent, 2006 © Marianne Berenhaut, Courtesy by Dvir Gallery, Photo: Mathias Schormann

Discover the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time. Deutsche Bank Collection in Dialogue at PalaisPopulaire with music, drinks, and guided art tours. The exhibition remains open until 9 PM, with short guided tours at 7 and 8 PM.

Stay tuned—details on the program will follow.

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Photo: Bernd Brundert

Featuring works from the Deutsche Bank Collection and selected loans, the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time explores the themes of time, memory, and change.

This guided tour is specially designed for blind and visually impaired visitors. At its center is Lena Henke’s sculpture "City Lights (Dead Horse Bay)" (2016), which participants will have the opportunity to touch – a sensory experience offered exclusively in this tour. Selected additional works will also be introduced and discussed. The tour will be led by art educator Dr. Elisabeth Klotz.

In German
Free of charge. Advance registration is required. Please register at palais.populaire@db.com or by calling (030) 20 20 93 15

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Lena Henke, City Lights (Dead Horse Bay), 2016 © Courtesy the Artist, Layr, Vienna and Sammlung Stadler, Photo: Mathias Schormann

Language cafés are places for meeting others – for people who want to practice and improve their German or simply feel like meeting other Berliners.

As part of the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time, visitors can participate in a language café at PalaisPopulaire. Each meeting will focus on one of the exhibited artworks and offer the opportunity to exchange thoughts on themes of time, memory and history.

The meetings will be led by Dóra Sági, an expert in German in multilingual contexts and aesthetic language education. Whether young or old, new or long-time Berliner – everyone is welcome at the language café to discuss art, society, and personal experiences over a drink.

In German
Pleaser register at the ticket shop.

Berlin's literary scene is on the move: traditional publishing houses have returned to the city, and numerous new publishers have emerged. We want to dedicate a special event format at the PalaisPopulaire to both: "writers’stage – New Literature from Berlin." Katharina von Uslar and Edgar Rai select the most exciting voices from the latest publishing programs, introduce the authors, and discuss their new novels with them.

In cooperation with the Uslar & Rai bookstore

In German
Cost: 9€. You can obtain a ticket here soon.
The exhibition can be visited before the reading until 7pm.

In the chamber music series “Workshop.Dialogue.Music” at the PalaisPopulaire, members of the Berliner Philharmoniker introduce themselves and their instruments and talk in a relaxed atmosphere about the works presented, their interpretations, and their approach. Questions and a dialogue with the audience are expressly encouraged! The concert will be followed by a guided tour of the exhibition.

Price: € 22 incl. French breakfast
Free choice of seats on site.
More information will follow in autumn 2025. Advance ticket sales start on October 28, 2025.

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Photo: Frederike van der Straeten / Berliner Philharmoniker