Oct. 2, 2026
This autumn, Berlin Art Link shines a spotlight on international exhibitions and events with our list of Top Exhibitions. We want to highlight artists, galleries, museums and new projects touching on a variety of topics, employing multiple media and featuring diverse subjects. Below are some of the stand-outs that we’ve selected running through the months of October, November and December.
Fondazione Furla
Shilpa Gupta: ‘One Palm Closer to the Sky’
Exhibition: Sept. 15, 2026-Jan. 6, 2027
fondazionefurla.org
GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Via Palestro, 16, 20121 Milan, Italy, click here for map
Shilpa Gupta examines the systems that regulate movement, language and individual freedom in ‘One Palm Closer to the Sky.’ Curated by Bruna Roccasalva, the exhibition begins in GAM’s courtyard before extending through five ground-floor galleries, placing Gupta’s contemporary practice in dialogue with the museum’s 19th-century collection. New sculptures, light and sound works, video and public interventions explore censorship, borders and the institutional shaping of identity, while involving viewers as active participants rather than detached observers. At the center of the exhibition is a persistent idea of hope: one shaped by generations of struggles for freedom, yet increasingly tested by the global rise of authoritarianism. Presented as part of the Furla Series, the exhibition reveals Gupta’s ability to turn research into direct, accessible encounters that move between intimacy and public life.
Shilpa Gupta: ‘For, In Your Tongue, I Cannot Fit,’ 2017-2023, gunmetal books, wood, bulb, 118.5 x 32.6 x 290 cm, set of 4 vitrines // Courtesy of the artist and Amant, photo by Sebastian Bach
Gropius Bau
Christoph Schlingensief: ‘Es ist nicht mehr mein Problem, macht eure Scheiße alleine’
Exhibition: Oct. 9, 2026-Jan. 17, 2027
gropiusbau.de
Niederkirchnerstraße 7, 10963 Berlin, Germany, click here for map
In ‘Es ist nicht mehr mein Problem, macht eure Scheiße alleine,’ the central strands of Christoph Schlingensief’s work are brought into an active confrontation. Moving between film, theater, performance, installation and political intervention, the exhibition traces how Schlingensief repeatedly transformed cultural institutions and public space into arenas of conflict and participation. Projects including ‘Chance 2000,’ ‘Bitte liebt Österreich’ and ‘Church of Fear’ reveal a practice that addressed nationalism, exclusion, religion and media spectacle with characteristic urgency. Taken from a statement made by the artist in 2005, the exhibition’s title retains the provocation and unruly energy of his work. Developed in collaboration with MAK and the Wiener Festwochen, the presentation is not a conventional retrospective, emphasizing instead the continued relevance of the artistic and political questions arising from Schlingensief’s practice.
Christoph Schlingensief: ‘The African Twin Towers,’ 2005 // Photo © Aino Laberenz / artwork © The Estate of Christoph Schlingensief
MOCA
Bharti Kher: ‘Bones’
Exhibition: Oct. 4, 2026-Feb. 14, 2027
moca.ca
158 Sterling Rd #100, Toronto, ON M6R 2B7, Canada, click here for map
Bharti Kher’s ‘Bones’ at MOCA in Toronto brings together 15 years of work alongside new sculptures. Known for assemblage, Kher dismantles and reconfigures everyday objects, castings, architectural fragments and natural materials, using them to investigate how shapes influence systems of belief and perception. The exhibition’s title refers both to bodily remains and to foundations on which new structures can be built. Striking platforms, surreal female figures, geometric sculptures, ropes and chains create theatrical arrangements in this show. Kher’s figures, some dressed in traditional Indian saris, interact with abstract forms that seem to float, tilt or hover. Mirrored ‘Matter’ paintings densely covered in bindis evoke both microscopic organisms and cosmic landscapes, while the monumental ‘Virus XXVI’ extends this visual language into an orbit-like composition. ‘Bones’ presents a universe in continual flux, balancing control and instability while emphasizing transformation as an unresolved process.
Bharti Kher: ‘Alchemies,’ 2024, installation view, Yorkshire Sculpture Park // Courtesy of the artist, Hauser & Wirth, Nature Morte and Perrotin, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, photo by Jonty Wilde
18th Lyon Biennale – Contemporary Art
Group Show: ‘To pass from one dream to another’
Exhibition: Sept 19-Dec. 13, 2026
labiennaledelyon.com
Various Venues, Lyon, France
The 18th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, titled ‘To pass from one dream to another,’ uses Lyon’s traboules (covered passageways) as a metaphor for moving between different ways of perceiving and imagining the world. Curated by Catherine Nichols, the Biennale examines the economy not simply as money or markets, but as the processes through which interdependent beings obtain, transform and circulate what sustains life. Drawing on Walter Benjamin and Robert Filliou, it explores the tension between capitalism’s dominant collective dream and the possibility of alternative economic and social models. The exhibition focuses on moments when established systems become unstable, allowing new imaginaries to emerge. Across several venues in Lyon—including the Grandes Locos industrial complex, the textile museum, Musée des Tissus and the contemporary art museum, macLYON—the Biennale approaches the economy through different perspectives wherein attention, care, relationships and imagination become forms of value. The Biennale invites visitors to experience the city as a passage and reconsider how societies might nourish and sustain collective life.
Joyce Joumaa: ‘Une disparition n’est pas une mort,’ 2026, 2 videos, color, sound, furniture, 20 min and 30 min, installation view at 18e Biennale d’art contemporain de Lyon, Institut d’art contemporain / Frac Rhônes-Alpes // Courtesy of the artist
Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation
Group Show: ‘Reverse Futures’
Exhibition: June 26-Dec. 5, 2026
jcaf.org.za
No 1 Durris Rd, Forest Town, Johannesburg, 2193, South Africa, click here for map
‘Reverse Futures’ considers how the future might be imagined from the Global South when past, present and future are understood as inseparable. The final exhibition in JCAF’s three-part ‘Worldmaking’ series, it draws on historical research, lived experience, community narratives and Indigenous knowledge to examine the continuing effects of colonialism, migration and technological change. Its title builds on Cave_bureau’s concept of “reverse futurism”: the proposition that creating viable futures requires confronting and repairing the structures inherited from the past. Bringing together Etel Adnan, Cave_bureau, Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler, Paula Gaetano Adi, Kamil Adam Hassim, Traci Kwaai, Ernest Mancoba, Georgia Munnik and Yinka Shonibare, with special projects by Wolff Architects and Rebecca Potterton, the exhibition considers how inherited histories continue to shape what can be imagined and built next.
‘Reverse Futures’ exhibition view, showing Paula Gaetano Adi: ‘Guanaquerx,’ 2024 in the foreground; Georgia Munnik: ‘The Strangling Fruit,’ 2026 left; Cave_bureau: ‘Shimoni Slave Cave,’ 2022–2023 in the background // Photo by Graham De Lacy
GAMeC
Selma Selman: ‘1000 Tears’
Exhibition: Oct. 1, 2026-Jan. 24, 2027
gamec.it
Via San Tomaso, 53, 24121 Bergamo, Italy, click here for map
At the heart of Selma Selman’s ‘1000 Tears’ at GAMeC is a photograph taken during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, depicting the artist as a child with her family. Drawing on encounters and conversations with those pictured, Selman transforms fragments of memory into graphic works suspended between reality and fiction. Hands and gestures in particular become vessels for memory, expression and protection. Central to the exhibition is a new excerpt from ‘Crossing the Blue Bridge’ (2024), a film recalling Selman’s mother crossing the Bihać bridge with her daughters during a 1994 ceasefire, shielding their eyes from the sight of corpses. The exhibition also presents ‘Letters to Omer,’ an ongoing project of letters addressed to an imaginary interlocutor, alongside the artist’s first book, ‘Dear Omer,’ which brings together 140 letters written by Selman over the past six years. Across these works, female genealogy and Roma history become means of resisting erasure and reimagining the past toward possible futures.
Selma Selman: ‘Letters to Omer,’ 2023, analogue photographs // Courtesy of the artist
Mesh Festival
‘Infrastructures of Care’
Festival: Oct. 14-18, 2026
meshfestival.ch
Festival Center, Freilager-Platz 1, 4142 Basel, Switzerland, click here for map
Titled ‘Infrastructures of Care,’ Mesh—a biennial festival for art and technology—returns to Basel for its second edition. The five-day program spans exhibitions, performances, screenings, workshops, club nights and a conference, structured around seven care themes. ‘Commons of Connection’ shows how closeness emerges, even when encounters take place digitally. ‘Memory Machines’ asks who decides what can be remembered and preserves suppressed knowledge. ‘Future Playgrounds’ creates cross-generational spaces for jointly testing out futures. ‘Wild Cities’ brings cities into focus as habitats for humans, animals and plants. ‘Circular Systems’ centers on ecological and technological cycles rather than consumption. ‘Non-Public Publics’ mobilizes practices that resist logics of fragmentation. The program is rounded out by the hands-on theme ‘Urban Actions | Spatial Utopias,’ which also takes shape in large-scale spatial installations. The festival features Gabriel Abrantes, Simona Andrioletti, Sophia Bulgakova, Aïsha Devi, Eva & Franco Mattes, Larry Achiampong, Molly Soda, Shu Lea Cheang, Wong Ping and Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, among many others.
Puck Verkade: ‘Uprooted,’ 2023-ongoing // © Puck Verkade
Amos Rex
Group Show: ‘The Other Side of the Mountain’
Exhibition: Oct. 14, 2026-Mar. 21, 2027
amosrex.fi
Mannerheimintie 22-24, 00100 Helsinki, Finland, click here for map
‘The Other Side of the Mountain – Notes from African and Afro-Nordic Perspectives’ at Amos Rex brings together 11 contemporary artists working across Africa and the Afro-Nordic diaspora. The exhibition asks whether the world can be understood differently when diverse perspectives are given space. Inspired by a story in Minna Salami’s ‘Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone,’ the exhibition’s title highlights how the same reality can produce radically different accounts depending on who experiences it. The artists on view in the show—including Igshaan Adams, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Ibrahim Mahama, Sandra Mujinga and more—explore urban environments and landscapes as spaces that connect or divide people, addressing themes of memory, migration, identity and movement, using varied sensory materials and forms. Curators Katariina Timonen and Marcia Harvey Isaksson emphasize how the artists’ narratives evolve through movement between places. Across the exhibition, layered works and built environments mirror the complexity of cities, creating interconnected paths and imagined worlds.
Jeannette Ehlers: ‘Until the lion,’ 2021, installation view, ‘Poet Slash Artist’ at Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale, 2021 // Photo by David Stjernholm
Kestner Gesellschaft
Karimah Ashadu: ‘Crystalline’
Exhibition: Aug. 29-Nov. 15, 2026
kestnergesellschaft.de
Goseriede 11, 30159 Hannover, Germany, click here for map
With ‘Crystalline,’ the Kestner Gesellschaft presents Karimah Ashadu’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany, centered on the world premiere of ‘WAVES’ (2026) at the Goseriedebad, a former bathhouse. Continuing Ashadu’s engagement with Nigeria and the entanglements of masculinity, labor, class, patriarchy and colonial afterlives, ‘WAVES’ focuses on workers at an informal car wash on the Atlantic coast. The film is presented alongside a new photographic series and ‘Auric Field’ (2026), a sculpture developed as part of an installation conceived for the venue. Through color and light, the exhibition space itself becomes an extension of Ashadu’s moving-image practice. Also on view is ‘Cowboy’ (2022), in which Ashadu portrays a man devoted to caring for horses on the Atlantic shore. The cowboy becomes an emblem of freedom and autonomy, set against the realities of lived experience, while the ocean emerges as a space between promise and carnage.
Karimah Ashadu: ‘Crystalline,’ 2026, installation view, Kestner Gesellschaft // © Karimah Ashadu, courtesy the artist, Sadie Coles HQ, London and Trautwein Herleth, Berlin, photo by Mareike Tocha
Tate Modern
‘Hyundai Commission: Tarek Atoui’
Exhibition: Oct. 13, 2026-Apr. 11, 2027
tate.org.uk
‘Ana Mendieta’
Exhibition: July 14, 2026–Jan. 17, 2027
tate.org.uk
Bankside, London SE1 9TG, UK, click here for map
Two exhibitions at Tate Modern approach the relationship between the body and its surroundings through sound, material and physical experience. For the 11th Hyundai Commission, Paris-based artist and composer Tarek Atoui creates a new site-specific work for the Turbine Hall. Building on his research into music history, instrumentation and production, Atoui’s multisensory environments challenge conventional ideas of listening and consider how sound can generate social encounters. Elsewhere in the museum, a major exhibition devoted to Ana Mendieta brings together iconic works, newly remastered films, early paintings and late sculptures. Her celebrated ‘Silueta’ series traces the artist’s body within the landscape using earth, fire, water, flowers and other elemental materials. Presented together at Tate Modern, the two exhibitions offer distinct yet resonant accounts of how bodies perceive, inhabit and leave their imprint on space.
Tarek Atoui: ‘Improvisation in 10 days,’ 2025, exhibition view at HangarBicocca, Milan // Photo © Rasa Juskeviciute
Musée d’Orsay
Jenny Holzer: ‘J’ai vu’
Exhibition: Oct. 20, 2026-Feb. 21, 2027
musee-orsay.fr
Esplanade Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, 75007 Paris, France, click here for map
For ‘J’ai vu,’ Jenny Holzer draws language from the Musée d’Orsay’s archives and the period represented by its collection, placing historical voices into circulation throughout the building. Texts selected from artists’ letters, literature and political commentary appear through projections across the museum’s Seine-facing façade, a site-specific LED installation, metallic redaction paintings and newly produced stone benches. Holzer’s streams of language respond to the former railway station’s architecture and movement, while her sculptures echo the varied stone of the museum’s original interiors. Conceived as a museum-wide intervention for the Musée d’Orsay’s 40th anniversary, ‘J’ai vu’ creates encounters between archival fragments and contemporary forms of public address. Moving across the building’s interior and exterior, the project presents history as an active, contested field whose political and emotional residues remain embedded in the present.
Jenny Holzer: ‘Claude Monet, letter to Théodore Duret, February 2, 1884’ // © 2026 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris
