As part of Berlin Art Week 2026, Ersan Mondtag presents two projects in Berlin: Alternde Meister, a performance developed with curator Nadim Samman at the Gemäldegalerie, and Dispair, his first solo exhibition at DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM.
Alternde Meister premieres at the Gemäldegalerie on Friday, 11 September, with performances at 7pm and 8:30pm, followed by performances on 12 and 13 September at 10:30am, 1pm and 3:30pm. The work brings together 25 performers from different generations and disciplines, including actors, visual artists, singers and dancers.
The performance unfolds in a 30-minute loop among the museum’s paintings. Performers initially appear asleep, resting or dead before awakening, dressing and carrying out individual actions. They later come together for a communal ceremony before dispersing and beginning the cycle again. The work draws on Lucas Cranach the Elder’s 1546 painting The Fountain of Youth, replacing its celebration of renewed youth with a funeral.
Alongside the performance, DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM presents Dispair from 9 September to 31 October. The exhibition is Mondtag’s first solo show at the gallery and features a new body of work created specifically for the exhibition, including large-scale sculptures made from carbonised wood and reliefs made from wood and silicone.
Mondtag works across visual art, theatre, opera and film, combining sculpture, installation, performance and space. His practice centres on the body as a carrier of memory and examines how personal and collective histories become embedded in materials, gestures and spaces.
The exhibition opens on 10 September from 6pm to 10pm as part of Gallery Night. Alternde Meister is presented in cooperation with the Berliner Ensemble and the Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Alternde Meister
Friday, 11 September 2026
7:00pm & 8:30pm, outside regular museum opening hours
Tickets HERE
Saturday & Sunday, 12–13 September 2026
10:30am, 1:00pm & 3:30pm
Included with Gemäldegalerie admission
Tickets HERE
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