Marina Abramović's major Berlin exhibition

Marina Abramović is back in Berlin with her first major solo exhibition there since the 1990s, now on view at Gropius Bau through August 23. (berlinerfestspiele.de) The show is called *Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition*, and it opened on April 15, 2026 after a free-admission opening night on April 14 at Gropius Bau on Niederkirchnerstraße in Berlin-Mitte. (berlinerfestspiele.de) (berlin.de) Gropius Bau says the exhibition fills ten rooms, the atrium and the in-house restaurant Beba, combining works from the 1970s to today with new video installations. (berlinerfestspiele.de) The exhibition centers on a body of work Abramović began in 2005, when she filmed actors in Serbia for *Balkan Erotic Epic*, drawing on folk tales and songs about rituals tied to fertility, death and the body. (berlinerfestspiele.de) Berlin’s version is arranged in three chapters and follows themes that have run through Abramović’s career for decades: ritual, the history of the Balkans, eroticism and death, and the body as a site of political resistance. (berlinerfestspiele.de) (berlin.de) The return lands in a city where Abramović has not had a major solo museum show in more than 30 years; an artist biography published by Echigo-Tsumari Art Field lists a 1992 Berlin solo exhibition, *Wartesaal*, at the Neue Nationalgalerie. (berlinerfestspiele.de) (echigo-tsumari.jp) The Berlin project also reaches beyond the museum: Berliner Festspiele says the exhibition is one half of a cross-genre work, with a four-hour stage production scheduled to open the Performing Arts Season at Haus der Berliner Festspiele in October 2026. (berlinerfestspiele.de) ARTnews reported that the opening drew a packed crowd and included Abramović’s 2025 video *Tito’s Funeral*, a live performance by singer Svetlana Spajić and a brass-band procession through the space. (artnews.com) For visitors in Berlin this week, the exhibition is already in its opening run, and Gropius Bau says advance booking is recommended for admission. (berlinerfestspiele.de 1) (berlinerfestspiele.de 2)