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Baking runs in Marcin Liera-Elkin’s family — his grandfather was a master baker in Poznań. Following in his footsteps, Marcin now runs the master bakery Babka & Krantz in Friedenau together with his husband, Shahar Elkin. There, the two pull crispy bagels and challah from the oven, fill rugelach with almond cream, and swirl babka with raspberry chocolate. The yeast dough rests for up to 48 hours before baking — a step you can taste in the soft, tender texture of their sweet and savory pastries. They’re served with coffee, just like Shahar’s grandmother Tamar used to make. And now you can enjoy their creations in Wannsee. In December 2024, the team took over the historic greenhouse in the House of the Wannsee Conference garden and has been serving post-exhibition refreshments ever since. The memorial commemorates the European Jews who were deported and murdered. The decision was made here in 1942, by ministry officials, members of the SS, and the NSDAP. A permanent exhibition tells the story using documents: protocols, statements, film and audio recordings. These records are chilling, precisely because of their faceless bureaucracy. It’s almost impossible to return to everyday life after a visit. Director Deborah Hartmann felt the same, which is why she brought Babka and Krantz to Wannsee. The result is a space for reflection, remembrance, connection and conversation.
Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Haus der Wannseekonferenz, Michael Haupt; Babka & Krantz
Babka & Krantz at Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz, Am Großen Wannsee 56-58, 14109 Berlin-Wannsee; map
@babkaundkrantz
@hausderwannseekonferenz
She doesn’t need much to completely change a room, an exhibition hall, or, as in the case of the Neue Nationalgalerie, a garden. Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya creates her art from nothing but water and air. Artificially generated, her fine veils of mist envelope sculptures by Alicja Kwade and Henri Laurens (permanently installed in the garden). And although we’ve seen these sculptures before, with Nakaya’s intervention it’s like seeing them for the first time. On the hour, when the fog condenses over the meadow in a discreetly choreographed manner, slowly spreading and then gradually disappearing into the sky again, what is always there appears new or changed. The ephemeral installation changes depending on the time of day, wind and temperature, but one thing remains the same: the experience, which is more than just seeing. Whether it’s in the morning, when it opens at 10h and the air is still cool, or in the late afternoon. Regardless of whether it’s drizzling or the sun is beating down on the museum forecourt, Nakaya’s fog is something you want to feel again and again. Her sculptures are meditations on everyday life. Every puff of mist is a haiku hanging in the air.
Born in Sapporo in 1933, Nakaya has traveled the world with her installations since the late 1960s. She exhibited at the World Expo in Osaka and the Tate Modern, added a second layer of fog to the already foggy harbor in San Francisco, and covered the English Garden at Munich’s Haus der Kunst in a fine haze. The radical simplicity, the ephemeral, makes her work so beguiling you can’t help but lose yourself in them. Nakaya doesn’t need much. But their impact could not be greater.
Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Neue Nationalgalerie, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, David von Becker
Neue Nationalgalerie, Potsdamer Str.50, 10785 Berlin–Tiergarten; map
Fujiko Nakaya: Fog Sculpture in the Sculpture Garden of the Neue Nationalgalerie until 14.09.2025
The sculpture starts on the hour between 10h and 17h.
@neuenationalgalerie
High-gloss, high-camp, playful and weird, the photo magazine Toiletpaper grabs your gaze and doesn’t let go, so bold and saturated are its visuals. The meticulously produced photographs in the Milan-based publication – released biannually by artist Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari since 2010 – are frequently jarring and unnerving. But boring they are not. Now the duo’s deranged vignettes will be even harder to miss as they migrate from shiny print to the walls of Fotografiska Berlin. The exhibition, ToiletFotoPaperGrafiska, opens tomorrow (09.05.2025) and brings together highlights from Cattelan and Ferrari’s compositions over the years. The pair say the show is akin to being at a party “where everyone is wildly intoxicated and you’re the only sober person in the room”. True to form, tomorrow’s openingwill be a decadent late-night dance-off with performances, live sets and a DJ program of trademark swing-heavy house and disco from the Toy Tonics crew, and a live concert by Myss Keta. And yes, the photographs will be there – not that you could ever miss them…
Text: Benji Haughton / Photos: Toiletpaper
Fotografiska Berlin, Oranienburger Str.54, 10117 Berlin–Mitte; map
ToiletFotoPaperGrafiska (09.05–31.08.2025) – tickets for tomorrow’s opening party are available here.
@fotografiska.berlin
As modern life becomes more chaotic, and the strain on our minds and bodies grows, many people have turned to ancient practices to find balance. Breathwork is one such practice gaining momentum. The process involves consciously changing how you breathe to shift your mental, emotional, or physical state. From calming techniques to deep emotional release, it’s a powerful tool hiding in plain sight. And now, scientists are paying attention too with researchers at Humboldt University studying its potential for treating trauma and depression. When it comes to well-being, it seems our ancestors were onto something. That’s the spirit behind the second edition of the Berlin Breathwork Days (13.–16.05.2025). Under the theme “Science meets Experience”, the festival blends theory and practice across a series of evening events at The Lovers & Leaders Space in Mitte, culminating in a full-day gathering at Eden in Pankow.
The main event is on 16.05. and features a Learning Lab and two Practice Spaces hosting a line-up of lectures, discussions, and hands-on sessions. Among the highlights Sukkadhas Auer, a certified Wim Hof Method instructor, will guide participants through the physiological mechanics of breath, capped with a breathing session and optional ice bath. Other offerings include “Spirit of Breath” with Sascha Zeilinger, “Connective Breath” with Anja Haberlandner and Paul Auls, and “Lichtatmung” led by Vidya and Klaus Ulbricht. The goal: more clarity, more connection, and research around breathwork’s role in healing and resilience. Whether you’re coming with curiosity, experience, or clinical interest, the Berlin Breathwork Days offer a deep dive into the power of breath.
Text: Daniel Pecsi / Photos: Janosch Förster, Sunny Seelen Herz, Dock 11 Eden
The Lovers and Leaders Space, Torstr.101, 10119 Berlin–Prenzlauer Berg; map
@breathworkdays
As we know, the best festivals are the ones that last the whole summer and are remembered without a hangover. Interdisciplinary __matter Festival 2025 meets both requirements. Running through October, it will transform Berlin into a living laboratory of material culture at the intersection of science, art and design. Initiated by the Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the event series focuses on a core theme: materials. What may sound abstract at first turns out to be far-reaching and deeply relevant because, ultimately, it’s about our ecological, social, and creative future. Eleven exhibitions. A rich program. Twelve venues — from Art Laboratory Berlin to the Späth Arboretum, from the Kunstgewerbemuseum to Silent Green Kulturquartier. More than 70 researchers from around 40 disciplines will contribute their expertise to reimagine the relationship between nature and culture, biology and technology, symbolism and materiality. In the Re:future Lab, for example, Rasa Weber dives into the depths of the Spree with a question: What if the Ocean Were a City? Her project, Syntopolis, is an immersive reef installation that transforms space into an urban underwater habitat. Here, boundaries blur between city and ocean, human and more-than-human communities. What if the Spree were a reef?
What would our shared life look like if we changed our perspective? At the Späth Arboretum — that fantastical hidden gem in the south of Neukölln — you can find out. The Vegetal Companions series invites you to encounter plants and trees as independent agents. The collective of flora becomes a source of inspiration for new forms of knowledge: soil as archive, philosophy as gardening, art as research. Here, humans are no longer seen as masters of nature but as participants in a polyphonic ecosystem. Fermenting Textiles at Art Laboratory Berlin also weaves anthropology, microbiology, and art to create a multi-sensory experience. Textiles are fermented in mud and plant material, a metaphor for collaboration between species, disciplines and traditions. The festival is a manifesto for the analog in a digital age. Materials are no longer seen as passive carriers, but as active, shaping forces — tools that define our world. We’re invited to rethink materiality as something that connects, transforms and determines the future. And what could be more satisfying than sharp ideas and fresh perspectives on the world, stretched across an entire summer?
Text: Hilka Dirks / Photos: Mathieu Kelhetter; Musée national d’historie Luxembourg; Aubin Woehrel
__matter Festival 2025
The entire program and all locations can be found here.
@mattersofactivity
ANMELDUNG