12.12.2025
to
13.09.2026
Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart
Hamburger Bahnhof presents Saâdane Afif’s first institutional solo exhibition in Berlin. The exhibition provides an insight into the work of the interdisciplinary artist, who has been living in the city since 2003, and includes the multi-part work The Fountain Archives. This artistic archival project is dedicated to one of the most prominent chapters in 20th-century art history: Marcel Duchamp’s legendary readymade Fountain from 1917. Afif’s installation was generously donated to the museum by Paul Maenz in 2023. The exhibition shows it alongside other works that question the very institution of the art museum and the principle of authorship with profound insight and subtle humour.
Sâadane Afif’s installations, objects, concerts and performances draw on works or events from art history, music and poetry. His long-term project The Fountain Archives began in 2008 with a collection of magazines, catalogues and books and ended in 2022 with the publication of an index to Marcel Duchamp’s (1887–1968) famous readymade of a urinal, which sparked debate in 1917 about what art is. The exhibition also features the 2010 work L’Humour noir, a replica of the Centre Pompidou cultural centre in Paris, which raises questions about the history of the avant-garde in the 20th century and its legacy in the museum. Also on display are the new works The Old, which refers to Jeff Koons’ 1980s series The New, and Live, a continuously updated presentation featuring posters announcing cultural events, which the artist adopts as readymades and transforms into a narrative about the city’s vibrant cultural life.
Afif invited artists, writers and musicians to create poetic texts, or ‘lyrics,’ to accompany all of the works presented in the exhibition. These lyrics are displayed on the walls and also serve as the starting point for performances that will be presented at various locations across Berlin between May and July 2026.
Saȃdane Afif (born 1970 in Vendôme, France) lives in Berlin. He has exhibited at Documenta 12 (2007), the 8th Berlin Biennale (2014), and the 56th Venice Biennale (2015), and was awarded the Prix Marcel Duchamp in 2009. He has held solo exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou in Paris (2010), the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt am Main (2012), the Kunsthalle Wien and WIELS in Brussels (2018), among others. Afif took part in the exhibition and concert project Scores at Hamburger Bahnhof in 2016 and was the artistic director of the Bergen Assembly in Norway in 2022.
To mark the 30th anniversary of Hamburger Bahnhof, a series of performances will take place at various locations starting in May 2026.
Accompanying the exhibition is the 16th edition of the Hamburger Bahnhof catalogue series, published by Silvana Editoriale Milano, comprising 108 pages, available at the Hamburger Bahnhof bookstore and through the Buchhandlung Walther König webshop for €12. ISBN: 9788836660742
The publication was made possible by Hamburger Bahnhof International Companions e. V.
The exhibition is curated by Gabriele Knapstein, Head of Collections and Deputy Director of Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart.
The exhibition is made possible by:
Hamburger Bahnhof International Companions e. V.
Daniel Schmidt
Georg Reisch GmbH & Co. KG
Dimitris Passas Collection
With the kind support of the Institut français Deutschland
A special exhibition of the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Offers and events
Opening hours
| Monday | closed |
| Tuesday | 10 am to 6 pm |
| Wednesday | 10 am to 6 pm |
| Thursday | 10 am to 8 pm |
| Friday | 10 am to 6 pm |
| Saturday | 11 am to 6 pm |
| Sunday | 11 am to 6 pm |
Prices / Tickets
Hamburger Bahnhof Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart + temporary exhibitions
16,00 EUR Concessions 8,00
+ temporary exhibitions
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Address / Getting there
Visitor Entrance
Invalidenstraße 50
10557 Berlin
S+U-Bahn, Tram und Bus: Hauptbahnhof
Access / Barrier-free Accessibility
partially wheelchair accessible
Organizer
Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart
Nationalgalerie