What does peace sound like? For artist Yoko Ono, it’s the interplay of bells swelling into a bright chorus. Throughout her life’s work, Ono has returned, again and again, to the theme of peace. As a young girl, she and her mother fled Tokyo during the Second World War; in the 1960s, she spoke out against the Vietnam War; and today she protests Russian aggression in Ukraine. Her performance, Bells for Peace, first presented in Manchester in 2019, is a moving call for peace and understanding. The participatory work recalls the ringing of bells on 11.11.1918, with the Armistice ending the First World War acoustically marked across Europe and the United States. This Sunday, at the closing event of her exhibition Dream Together at the Neue Nationalgalerie, Ono invites Berliners to join the ringing of bells and believe together in a better future.

Anyone who would like to join is invited to the museum terrace on 14.09.2025 at 16h45 to ring together for peace. At the 2019 premiere, 4,000 handcrafted ceramic bells (each engraved specially for the occasion) sounded, accompanied by the powerful resonance of a giant Buddhist bell and antique church bells. It’s best to bring your own bell or chime on Sunday, as few will be available at the Neue Nationalgalerie — but the museum will keep a supply ready so that Ono’s polyphonic chorus of bells can be heard across the Tiergarten. In times like these, it’s an act that feels especially fitting.

Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Iain Macmillan & David von Becker / Credit: Yoko Ono; Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Terrace of Neue Nationalgalerie, Potsdamer Str.50, 10785 Berlin–Tiergarten; map

Closing performance by Yoko Ono as part of Perform! 2025 – The fourth annual performance festival during Berlin Art Week. Yoko Ono: Bells for Peace (2019/2025) 14.09.2025. Free admission.

@neuenationalgalerie

Heimaten Festival explores belonging and homeland with concerts, film screenings and discussions at HKW. The German word “Heimat” describes a feeling of being at home. But it also has a darker meaning, one which nativist politicians and movements have used to exclude minorities who, they say, can never call Germany their home. Opening next Friday (12.09.2025) at HKW, the Heimaten Festival turns this idea on its head: Heimat isn’t about being anchored to the fatherland, but a shifting sense of belonging that crosses borders. ​​The program runs until December and spans concerts, debates, workshops and screenings across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. At the kick-off at HKW, hip hop collective BSMG host a night of resistance through music, tackling colonial legacies and the global rightward shift (12.09 20h30). Following this on 13.09 is the panel talk Is the Diversity Party Over?, asking how anti-racist initiatives can survive political hostility and shrinking state funding.

Meanwhile, colonial injustices are brought into focus at the screening of The Empty Grave, a documentary that follows Tanzanian families searching for ancestors’ remains taken under German rule (14.09 17h30). Beyond HKW, Berlin Postkolonial and activist Mnyaka Sururu Mboro will be leading a series of Witness Walks through Berlin, confronting the city’s colonial past (throughout September and October). Together, the events reimagine Heimat, pointing to a future that’s less fatherland and more flux.

Text: Benji Haughton / Photos: Philipp Czampiel, Jonas Lumke & Hanna Wiedemann

Heimaten Festival runs at HKW and other venues from September to December 2025. You can view the full program of free events as well as a list of the festival’s network members on the website.

@hkw_berlin