Life Across

“Your roots are there—your branches are here—you yourself are here—your mind is there.”

From “Geteiltes Leben” by Ertekin Özcan, West Berlin, 1983

What is it like to live between places, languages, and memories? Artistic works from the 1970s to the present explore this question.

Rarely exhibited works from the Berlin Museum’s collection and on loan tell stories of exile, everyday life, and self-determination. Archival materials and audio interviews with the artists complement the works and open up transnational perspectives on Berlin’s history and stories.

The artists’ journeys are as diverse as their works. For them, Berlin becomes a new home where they study and create art, but also a place of refuge.

What traces have migration and exile left on Berlin’s art scene? What experiences distinguish East Berlin from West Berlin? What role do networks, shared spaces, and self-organization play? The exhibition traces the artistic work across painting, printmaking, film, and sculpture.

Featuring works by:

Cecilia Boisier, Santos Chávez, Ximena Ferrer Pizarro, Evelyn Kuwertz, Ertekin Özcan, Minh Duc Pham, Núria Quevedo, Chetna Vora, Hanefi Yeter

The exhibition “Shared Lives: Art and Migration in Berlin” is part of the Berlin Museum’s thematic focus on migration history. This also includes the exhibition *Tapetenwechsel. Migration and Furniture since 1960, also at the Ephraim-Palais. Through January 3, 2027, it presents artistic works and documentary material on the themes of housing and settling in, in the context of migration and exile.

At the same time, the Gropius Bau will present the exhibition “Kreuzberg: Art and Migration since 1960” from September 10, 2026, through January 17, 2027.

Curated by Christine Heidemann and Aurora Rodonò, in collaboration with Pia Dressler and Antonia Welch Guerra (Berlin Museum).

• Supported by: Julius Bötzow Foundation
• Part of: Berlin Art Week, September 9–13, 2026