Festival of Future Nows 2025
31.10.2025 to 02.11.2025
Neue Nationalgalerie
Neue Nationalgalerie is pleased to present the Festival of Future Nows in the iconic Mies van der Rohe building, more than ten years after the festival’s first edition. From 31 Octoberto 2 November 2025, the museum’s interior and exterior spaces will be transformed into an open field for artistic encounters, experiments, and visions for the future.
The Festival’s History
The first Festival of Future Nows was held in 2014 to mark the conclusion of the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institute for Spatial Experiments), a study program led by Olafur Eliasson at the Berlin University of the Arts from 2009 to 2014. Co-directed by Eric Ellingsen and Christina Werner, the Institute explored new approaches to artistic education and research, shaping a generation of artists through an interdisciplinary and experimental practice.
The festival’s inaugural edition took place at Neue Nationalgalerie, prior to the building's extensive renovation. A second edition followed in 2017 at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart. Now, the third edition returns to its original location. Building on its founding vision, the festival presents art as a space for collective thinking, acting, and imagination—exploring how art can raise questions about the future and stimulate imagination for new ways of being.
Third Edition of Festival of Future Nows 2025
The Festival of Future Nows brings together around 100 international artistic positions—ranging from emerging voices to established practitioners. In a densely packed program, performative, experimental, and participatory works open up diverse and unexpected encounters throughout the museum’s indoor and outdoor spaces. Performances, happenings, sound and audio works, choreographies, dance, workshops, and both subtle and large-scale interventions invite active engagement.
Visitors are invited to enter into an open dialogue with artists and fellow guests. Through works that inspire participation, reflection, and shared experience, a space emerges for addressing urgent social and ecological issues, fostering collective agency, and imagining new forms of coexistence. At the heart of the festival is the exchange of ideas and an exploration of the role art can play in this process—ultimately aiming to foster cooperation and articulate visions for and of the future.
Taking place in the architectural icon of Mies van der Rohe, the Festival of Future Nows is an experimental format situated within a major cultural institution. The dynamic interplay between the festival’s artistic program and the museum’s unique architectural qualities creates a charged atmosphere – inviting audiences to experience art as a social and imaginative space for shaping our shared future.
Artists: Adrian Herzig, Alica Siegele, Aliou Diack, Ally Bisshop, Álvaro Urbano, Amos Blanton, Ana Lessing Menjibar, Andreas Greiner, Andrew Amondson, Anika Frank, Anne Duk Hee Jordan, Anushka Chkheidze, Arnold Dreyblatt, Atefeh Ghasemi Nia, Atvola, Bureaucracy Studies, Carole Anaïs Flammang, Clara Jo, Coy Chap, Daiki Kimoto, Dan Stockholm, Dominic Laurin Kruschwitz, Dorte Bjerre Jensen, Dry Ocean, Ece Pazarbaşi, Elaine W. Ho, Elise Eeraerts, Elizabeth McTernan, Eric Ellingsen, Etienne Kirchhoff, Fabian Knecht, Fabian Thüroff, Farhang Rafiee, Felix Kiessling, Fernanda von Trevellin, Florian Huber, forty five degrees, Frank Oehring, Freya Stoermer, Gabrielle Mainguy, Giulia Ottavia Frattini, Gonzalez Haase AAS, Hannah Lansburgh, Hannah W. Wetzel, Hans-Henning Korb, Helen Zeru, Helene Nymann, Hongzhu Chen, Ivana Franke, Jan Jelinek, Jan St. Werner, Jeewi Lee, Jeremias Holliger, Jesper Dyrehauge, Joe Dumit, Jona Wolf, Jonas Wendelin, Jorge Miñano, Julian Charrière, Julius von Bismarck, Kai Litke, Karsten Olsen, Kat Heimann, Kat Válastur, Katinka Theuerkauf, Katja Aufleger, Klaas Weirauch, Kyoco Taniyama, Laleh Khabbazy, Laura McLardy, Lena Krüger, Lena Muley, Leon Eixenberger, Linn Johanna Johannsen, Linus Hüsam, Lisa Friedrichs-Dachale, Livyj Bereh, Lucas Buschfeld, Lucas Gutierrez, Macarena Ruiz-Tagle, Malihe Nemati Nikou, Malin Müller, Malte Bartsch, Maresa Anna Fiege, Markus Hoffmann, Maxim Lewandowski, Melina Julie Sieverling, Merlin Carter, Nahum, Nina Schuiki, Norgard Kröger, Olafur Eliasson, Pascale Espinosa, Pauline Doutreluingne, Phillip C. Reiner, Phivos Theodotou, Pixilated Realities, Quynh Vantu, Rafael Ibarra, Ramona Kortyka, Raul Walch, Reza Arabgari, Rica Mosco, Rike Horb, Rike Scheffler, Robert Lippok, Roberto Aparicio Ronda, Rodrigo Maltez Novaes, Rosemary Hannon, Roxana Olympia Seehof, Rudyard Schmidt, Rune Bosse, Saleh Shaweesh, Sarah Rechberger, Seiji Morimoto, Seoyeong Choi, Simen Musæus (aeaeaeae), Sophia Pompéry, Sophie Erlund, Sound Practice Research Kollectiv (SPRK), Susanne Bosch, Temporary Landing Zones, Thieme-Williams, Tímea Anita Oravecz, Ulrike Zimmermann, Upcoming Collective, Viktoria Dergunova, Vinzenz Reinecke, Violeta Burckhardt, Yeil Joo, Yuichiro Tamura, Yves Mettler.
Further information about the Festival of Future Nows 2025 can be found at: futurenows.net.
The festival opening will take place on 31 October 2025 at 7 pm.
Admission to the festival is free of charge. Please note that access to the collection presentation and special exhibitions in the basement is not included. Regular opening hours and admission fees apply for these.
Exhibition Imprint
Organised by Christina Werner, Ricarda Bergmann, Nikola Richolt, Sophie Uebach, Lisa Botti, Olafur Eliasson and Klaus Biesenbach
Communication: Markus Farr, Maribel Nicolás Cabello
The realization of the festival is made possible by funds from the Hauptstadtkulturfonds.
The American Academy in Berlin is partner of the festival.
A collaboration of the Neue Nationalgalerie – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz and the Institut für Raumexperimente e. V. on initiative of Klaus Biesenbach and Olafur Eliasson.
