Once, enormous brewing vats filled this space with beer. Today, ideas and artworks inhabit the halls of the former Neukölln brewery. Since its careful renovation in 2016, the Kindl has established itself as a hub for contemporary Berlin art, and not just because of its 20-meter-high boiler house. Here, British artist Cornelia Parker realized Stolen Thunder (A Storm Gathering), an immersive installation that can be experienced until 24.05.2026. Sound, light, and shadow create a fictional, physically tangible event that recalls expressionist cinema while reflecting on climate disasters and political instability. Minimalist in gesture but monumental in effect are the works of Phoebe Collings-James. Until 15.02., the Maschinenhaus M1 hosts the British-Jamaican artist’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany. Ceramic sculptures and a newly created sound work merge personal and collective experience, making the engagement with body, desire, and anti-colonial practices spatially perceptible. In the M1 VideoSpace, Cihad Caner presents hybrid, animated monsters inspired by historical and pop-cultural figures. Born in Istanbul in 1990, the artist gives them voices, exploring — both abstractly and directly — questions of integration and hospitality. On 04.02., Cihad Caner will discuss the exhibition’s themes in conversation with Çaǧla Ilk, the Designated Artistic Director of the Maxim Gorki Theatre.

Urban life and coexistence are also central to Erik Schmidt, whose retrospective The Rise and Fall of Erik Schmidt is on view until 01.02. in Maschinenhaus M2. Through a narrative parcours of painting, drawing, and video, he constructs a layered self-portrait that encompasses queer identity and a sense of community. On 29.01., Schmidt will provide further insight into his practice in conversation with Krist Gruijthuijsen, the new Director of the Espoo Museum of Modern Art. All of these exhibitions reveal what the Kindl is at its very core: not a quiet display case, but a vibrant kaleidoscope. A place of exchange that responds to (and engages with) its audience. For ten years, the Kindl has proven itself as an institution where art can be reflexive, conversational, and at times challenging. It is a space that connects and sparks discussion. The impressive building, where the industrial pulse of the past is still palpable, has reinvented itself as a dynamic forum for discourse. Under the direction of Kathrin Becker, art is not simply exhibited; it is negotiated as an expression of feeling, power relations, and uncertainty in our globalized world.

Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Fabian Brennecke, Jens Ziehe, Marco Funke

Kindl – Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Am Sudhaus 3, 12053 Berlin–Neukölln; map

Cornelia Parker: Stolen Thunder (A Storm Gathering) until 24.05.2026

Phoebe Collings-James: The subtle rules the dense until 15.02.2026 
Landing / Bodies – Lecture by Kathryn Yusoff (Professor of Inhuman Geography, Queen Mary University of London), followed by a conversation with Maïa Beyrouti (artist, material research, Berlin) and Kathryn Yusoff, as part of the Phoebe Collings-James exhibition. 21.01.2026 19h, in English.

Cihad Caner, Demonst(e)rating the Untamable Monster until 15.02.2026
Çaǧla Ilk (Designated Artistic Director of the Maxim Gorki Theatre, Berlin) in conversation with Cihad Caner, as part of the exhibition Cihad Caner. Demonst(e)rating the Untamable Monster. 04.02.2026 19h, in English.

The Rise and Fall of Erik Schmidt until 01.02.2026
Krist Gruijthuijsen (Director, EMMA | Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland) in conversation with Erik Schmidt, as part of the exhibition The Rise and Fall of Erik Schmidt. 29.01.2026 19h, in English.

@kindlberlin

“You can say it, I don’t mind,” the President of the United States comments in response to a journalist asking New York’s new mayor whether he considers Trump a fascist. He almost seems proud of his own image. Around the world, a movement toward the darker side of power is becoming increasingly visible. Fascism is becoming more and more socially acceptable. Yet there is a reluctance to talk about this shift. Whether as a coping mechanism or blatant denial, one thing is clear: we must confront the topic to resist it. The exhibition Global Fascisms at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt takes on this challenge. But how do you visualize fascism? Where do power structures become visible? And how much aesthetics are involved? Since early September 2025, the group exhibition has explored these questions, bringing together artistic positions that trace the rise of authoritarianism in our time: the bodies it shapes, the technologies that drive it, and the psychological landscapes it leaves behind. The show features work by 50 international artists grappling with the growing influence of fascist ideologies. Contemporary painting, film, performance, discourse, and digital art sit alongside historical works that feel eerily familiar. A recurring theme: the seductive aesthetics of fascist systems and their analysis. And the technological and technical advances: what role, for example, do artificial intelligence and its associated (often aesthetic) pigeonholing play in the rise of fascism?

Artist Josh Kline shows how AI, automation, and political right-wing shifts hollow out work environments and make people replaceable. Jane Alexander’s sculptures (Council with Emblem) oscillate between the familiar and threatening, suggesting authority without a clear message and challenging us to question our prejudices. Eli Cortiñas dissects the image politics of the surveillance society and envisions counter-images of hybrid, resistant bodies. Hou Chun-Ming weaves queerness, mythology, and political history into a multilayered commentary on desire and repression. Anna Maria Maiolino demonstrates how migration, military dictatorship, and censorship shape artistic language without diminishing clarity or power. And Fuyuhiko Tanaka, with Japan Erection, delivers a bawdy yet painfully sharp commentary on the destructive drive and potential of patriarchal power structures. Global Fascisms is on view until 07.12.2025, with free entry on the final weekend. It’s an invitation to face hard truths.

Text: Inga Krumme / Credits: Gülsün Karamustafa, Soldier (1976), Courtesy Gülsün Karamustafa,  BüroSarıgedik.Salt Research and Gülsün Karamustafa Archive; Jane Alexander, Council with emblem (2025), Monitor (2023), Representative in law enforcement jacket, (2006,14), Bird in Step Out tunic (2024), Beast (2003), Emblem (2025), Courtesy Jane Alexander; Exhibition View Global Fascisms, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), 2025, Photo: Hanna Wiedemann/HKW

Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin–Tiergarten; map

Global Fascisms 13.09.–07.12.2025. Find the full program here.

@hkw_berlin