Long Night of Museums
In addition to the multimedia presentation on the history of the Akademie building, visitors can also expect guided tours of the architecture, storage rooms and depots. The Baukunstarchiv (Architectural Archives), Library and Art Collection will present highlights from their collections. The Picture Cellar and Reading Room will also be open. We also cordially invite you to visit the bar on the rooftop terrace with a view onto the Brandenburg Gate.
Programme
6 pm – 2 am Opening of the roof terrace with a view of the Brandenburg Gate
In addition to the multimedia presentation on the history of the Akademie building, visitors can also expect guided tours of the architecture, the magazines and depots. The Baukunstarchiv (Architectural Archive), Library and Art Collection will present highlights from their collections. The Picture Cellar and Reading Room will be open. We also cordially invite you to visit the roof terrace with its view of the Brandenburg Gate.
6 pm – 2 am Opening of the Picture Cellar
A series of decorations were created in the boiler room of the Akademie der Künste for two carnival celebrations in 1957 and 1958. The paintings by the master students of the time, including Manfred Böttcher, Harald Metzkes, Ernst Schroeder, Werner Stötzer and Horst Zickelbein, are today unique testimonies to the artistic post-war modernism of the GDR.
6 pm – 2 am Multimedia presentation on the history of the Academy building “Pariser Platz 4: A hotspot of German history”
The Akademie der Künste building at Pariser Platz reflects recent German history in a unique way. Traces of the changing uses since 1907 are still visible today. A multimedia presentation shows how the ruptures and caesurae of the 20th century were inscribed in the history of the site.
6 pm – 11 pm Opening of the reading room
The eternal lives in the archive as it does in love: feelings, letters, thoughts. What we preserve is more than just a document - it is the art of memory, a testimony to human longing. The reading room is open to all who want to discover: Love is memory with a future.
Tours
First come, first served applies to all guided tours. Registration and issue of tickets on site in the foyer.
In German language.
For guided tours of the collections, bags must be locked in the lockers on the 1st floor in good time before the start.
Architectural tours
7 pm, 8 pm, 9 pm, 10 pm
Duration ca. 30 min.
20 people max.
The building has been used by the Academy of Arts (founded in 1696) since 1907, with an interruption during the National Socialist era. As the Academy of Arts of the GDR, the building was located directly on the Wall strip, since 1993 it has been the seat of the united Academy and since 2005 the new glass building has surrounded the historic rooms of the Prussian Academy. Throughout the building - from the picture cellar to the roof terrace - traces of the past can be found, speaking witnesses to history.
Guided tours Art Collection‘s depot rooms “Love meets disaster”
7:15 pm, 8:15 pm, 9:15 pm, 10:15 pm
Duration ca. 45 min.
15 people max.
Death and disaster pose multiple challenges to love and art alike. A guided tour through the art collection’s depot offers ample opportunity to reflect upon the paintings and their (hi)stories. A tour not only for romantics; those who claim to know all painful sides of love already can seek
Guided tours Library “Passion for collecting – Artist libraries”
6:45 pm, 7:45 pm, 8:45 pm, 9:45 pm
Duration ca. 30-45 min.
20 people max.
The Library of Arts opens its doors to unique book collections by artists. Highlights from the holdings of one of the largest interdisciplinary libraries specializing in modern art are presented. The tour begins in the reading room with its impressive view and continues into the hidden stacks.
Guided tours through the display depot architecture models
7:30 pm, 8:30 pm, 9:30 pm
Duration ca. 30 - 40 min.
23 people max.
Get a glimpse ”behind the scenes“ of the archive: In the display depot, which opened in 2024, you will gain an exclusive insight into the Akademie der Künste’s outstanding collection of architecture models. The collection focuses on the 20th century. On the occasion of the Long Night, we will delve into the question of what role love could play in architecture.
Late Night Special Concerts
10:30 pm – 1:30 am “Alternating current - A night with electronic dialogs”
This year, the Akademie der Künste has developed a late night special entitled “Wechselstrom – Eine Nacht mit elektronischen Dialogen” (“Alternating current - A night with electronic dialogs”), featuring improvised music, sound art and live electronics starting at 10:30 pm. Composer and Academy member Arnold Dreyblatt will form the first duo with Werner Durand. This will be followed by Zero Beam with Malte Giesen and Andrei Cucu (Studio for Electroacoustic Music at the Akademie der Künste). At the end of the musical night, Carla Boregas will perform a piece using Studio for Electroacoustic Music’s Publison DHM89B2 processor/sampler with its FB2000 keyboard, tape machine, and synthesizers.
Carla Boregas is a Brazilian musician, composer and sound artist. By merging synthetic and acoustic instrumentation and techniques, Boregas sculpts sonic scenarios where the sensation of presence and discovery lies between density and delicacy. Her work spans composition, improvisation, performance, sound installation, and radio art. With her solo and collaborative projects, Boregas toured extensively throughout Europe, North and South America and Japan, with main performances and commissioned works presented at Rewire (NL), CTM Festival (DE), Le Guess Who? (NL), Deutschlandfunk Kultur (DE), Festival Novas Frequências (BR), Festival Música Estranha (BR), Copenhagen Jazz Festival (DK), MUTEK (CA), We Jazz (FIN).
Andrei Cucu is a sound artist / composer / musician from Cluj Napoca, Romania, who lives in Berlin. He works with text, dreams, video, singing, and objects, with a focus on sound. He writes poetry, improvises, composes, plays, and programs. He is a member of Errant Sound and the Studio for Electroacoustic Music at the Akademie der Künste.
Arnold Dreyblatt (born 1953 in New York City) is a composer and musician who has developed his own instruments, performance techniques, and a unique tonal system. As part of the second generation of New York minimalist composers, he studied with Pauline Oliveros, La Monte Young, and Alvin Lucier, as well as media art with Woody and Steina Vasulka. In 1984, he moved to Berlin. His music has been performed by ensembles such as the Bang On A Can All-Stars, the Great Learning Orchestra, and the Pellegrini String Quartet. Dreyblatt has recorded for labels such as Tzadik, Hat Hut, and Drag City and has performed worldwide, including at the Whitney Museum and the MaerzMusik Festival. In addition to his music, he is also active as a visual artist. He has received numerous awards, including the Philip Morris Art Prize. Dreyblatt is Deputy Director of the Visual Arts Section of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.
Werner Durand studied saxophone as well as Indian and Persian flutes. In the early 1980s, he developed wind instruments from different materials and blowing techniques. In addition to numerous projects with singer Amelia Cuni, he has collaborated with composers such as Arnold Dreyblatt, Henning Christiansen, David Behrman, and Catherine Christer Hennix. He was a co-founder of the groups “The 13th Tribe”, Armchair Traveller, and Tonaliens. Numerous LP & CD releases. Scholarships at the Cité des Arts-Paris in 1989, Künstlerhäuser Worpswede in 2003/4, AIR-Krems / Austria in 2011, and Civitella Ranieri / Italy in 2013. He currently performs with Flocks, Artificial Hipsters, and as part of Fluxus and Futurism concerts with the ensemble “For Noise Intoners.”
Malte Giesen studied composition / computer music at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart with Marco Stroppa and Oliver Schneller, followed by further studies at the CNSM Paris with Gérard Pesson, at the HfM Berlin with Hanspeter Kyburz and electroacoustic music with Wolfgang Heiniger. He was a fellow of the GdF MH Stuttgart, Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation and of the Foundation of the HfM Berlin, Elsa-Neumann-scholarship Berlin. Since 2021 he is Head of Studio for Electroacoustic Music at the Akademie der Künste. His works are being performed in Germany and abroad.
