Tony Cokes, Adrian Piper, Ayşe Erkmen

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As part of the exhibition It’s Just a Matter of Time, selected works on view outside the gallery spaces highlight the central role of public space in historiography.

On a billboard in front of the PalaisPopulaire, Tony Cokes captures a sense of menace that simultaneously urges one to act: “There’s a set of forces that want us to be permanently anxious.” But what can be done against these forces, and how can polyphony and freedom be actively defended? The time to find answers to these questions is running out.

This is also conveyed by Adrian Piper’s Seriation #2: Now (1968), a sound work that resonates in the Prinzessinnengarten. Over the course of twenty minutes, the artist repeats the word “now” at increasingly shorter intervals—a meditation on time and transience that marks the transitions between past and future.

In the Café LePopulaire, Ayşe Erkmen’s Balkanık (2003/2025) is being served—a traditional recipe reinterpreted by the artist with her own instructions. The cake, blending ingredients from various cultures, symbolizes transcultural exchange. Like the Palais itself, this cake is a symbol of constant change and the layering of historical and cultural strata.