Special exhibition on the East Side Gallery
The East Side Gallery is world-famous - colorful, political and full of symbolic power. What was conceived as a temporary art project in 1990 is now the longest open-air gallery in the world and attracts several million visitors every year. More than 100 works of art tell of the hopes and concerns of artists during this period of upheaval in the place where concrete and barbed wire once separated Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg.
Image gallery
Schriftzug Ausstellung - mehrere Sprachen
Debates and change at the East Side Gallery
The murals would no longer be there today if the artists had not repeatedly restored them. Exposed to the weather and vandalism, the colors faded after a short time. In 2009, they repainted all the artworks - some changed colors and style. Others completely reinterpreted their picture and formulated a different message.
The special exhibition provides insights into the transformation of selected wall paintings and traces the conflict between monument, art and public space. It shows examples of how images and concrete were preserved. It raises the question of how the preservation of the East Side Gallery can be guaranteed in the future.
On display are testimonies from the time when the East Side Gallery was built as well as previously unpublished finds from the artists' archives: original sketches and models, sculptures, documents and photographs.
- The exhibition is located in the Visitor Center of the Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Straße 119, 13355 Berlin
- Duration: September 29 to December 7, 2025
