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New Contribution to the “Endless Exhibition” by Susan Philipsz from 13 June 2025

11.06.2025
Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart

Susan Philipsz presents East by West, a new commission for the Endless Exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof. The presentation opens on Friday, 13 June at 5 pm with the Open House Weekend.

Upon entering the museum garden, visitors hear drawn-out tones of varying pitch emanating from the trees on either side of the central pathway. They swell, overlap, and fade away again. The starting point of this site-specific sound installation is the wind—a natural force that is invisible, but tangible and audible. The sounds were created using conch shells, which have symbolized the wind since ancient times. At the same time, their origins in the Pacific and Atlantic allude to Hamburger Bahnhof’s orientation at the intersection of East and West.

Susan Philipsz’s 4-channel sound installation East by West is part of the Endless Exhibition and is being presented in the garden of the Hamburger Bahnhof. Visitors hear the sounds of the sound installation from loudspeakers located in two poplars and two elms to the left and right of the sidewalk. The sounds were created using conch shells into which air was blown. As instruments, these objects have a long tradition as signal tools or in ritual acts and were already considered a symbol of the wind in ancient times. Philipsz recorded four shells from the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific, far west and east of Berlin. Their sound refers to the cardinal direction of their origin and evokes a wind that knows no boundaries. Thus, the work in the museum garden also references the geographical and historical east-west orientation of the Hamburger Bahnhof: Until 1990, the Berlin Wall stood directly next to the building.

Susan Philipsz (born 1965 in Glasgow, lives in Berlin) works with the psychological and sculptural possibilities of sound. She studied in Dundee and Belfast. In 2000/01 she was a fellow at MoMA PS1 in New York. In 2010 she was awarded the Turner Prize. She participated in Skulptur Projekte Münster (2007) and documenta 13 (2012). In 2014 her exhibition Part File Score was held in the Historical Hall of the Hamburger Bahnhof. Her sound installation War Damaged Musical Instruments (Shellac) (2015) is part of the Nationalgalerie collection.

The Endless Exhibition includes 22 installations, interventions, and sculptures from Hamburger Bahnhof collection, which are permanent elements of the museum’s interior and exterior spaces. Since June 2023, a free, self-guided tour with a microsite and booklet has led visitors through all parts of the museum complex, into the garden and the adjacent areas, linking the collection, history, building, and neighbourhood. The tour of artworks also includes Dan Flavin's iconic light installation from 1996 and historical sites such as the former Invalidenstraße border crossing and most recently The Missing House by Christian Boltanski at Große Hamburger Straße in Berlin Mitte. A new commissioned site-specific work by a Berlin-based artist will be added to the Endless Exhibition every year: 2023 with a work by Judith Hopf, 2024 with Claudia Wieser. The Endless Exhibition combines art, collection, architecture, history, neighbourhood, and visitors.

The project by Susan Philipsz is curated by Sven Beckstette, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart. 

The Endless Exhibition is a project realised by Hamburger Bahnhof with the kind support of Peppermint and the FREUNDE der Nationalgalerie.