Forum Hamburger Bahnhof

Hamburger Bahnhof - Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Invalidenstraße 50, 10557, Berlin

June 16, 2023 – December 31, 2027

As a microcosm of Berlin, the buildings of Hamburger Bahnhof tell many stories. Between the bookshop and the presentation of the collection in the west wing, the ‘Forum Hamburger Bahnhof’ presents objects and archives that revisit these stories from 1848 to the present day and retell them in chapters. The main building of the Hamburger Bahnhof was an epoch-defining station building in the middle of the 19th century, which adapted to the historical circumstances: In the early 20th century it served as a museum for construction and transport, as a ruin of the Second World War it was located on the demarcation line between East and West Berlin. From the occupied artists' house in the 1980s, it developed into a pop-up exhibition space after the opening of the Wall, until it opened in 1996 as the location of the National Gallery. The archive exhibition is complemented by a space for participatory and discursive programs, including film interviews of people who are connected to Hamburger Bahnhof from the 1980s to the present day. As a place of assembly, debate and transformation, the Forum invites the public to think of new concepts for the museum. Admission to the Forum Hamburger Bahnhof and its events is free.