Chemnitz is European Capital of Culture in 2025. Part of its cultural programme is PURPLE PATH, an art and sculpture trail that will showcase works by renowned international, national and Saxon artists. The result is an exhibition in public space which includes pieces from Tony Cragg, Richard Long and Sean Scully.
16 exceptional emerging filmmakers came to Berlin to take part in this year’s Berlinale Talents in February. Berlinale Talents is the talent development programme run by the Berlinale, Berlin’s international film festival, with 200 filmmakers selected from all over the world. This year’s theme was Listen Courageously: Cinematic Narratives in Times of Dissonance. We have conducted interviews with Berlinale Talents from the UK. Explore them here.
Our annual online programme of short films, Five Films for Freedom, celebrates global stories in support of LGBTQIA+ communities across the world. This year the programme returns between 19-30 March. Don’t miss this selection of five short films made by filmmakers from around the world, selected from BFI: Flare’s festival programme and made available to global audiences online for an exclusive period of 11 days.
The British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-76), a staunch pacifist, wrote the War Requiem after the construction of the St. Michael Cathedral in Coventry in World War II as a warning and accusation for the reopening of the cathedral in 1962. The Lewisham Choral Society, London, will be part of the impressive musical ensemble. Tickets are available here.
Festival EIGHT BRIDGES: Musik for Cologne will present on 18 May 2025 “The Oddity Effect”, a new work by British composer Christian Mason and poet Paul Griffiths at the prestigious Kölner Philharmonie. The concert will be immediately following the world premiere in Frankfurt on 16 May, both performed by one of Germany’s most renowned ensembles for contemporary music: Ensemble Modern.
The Berlin Festival for New Music MärzMusik returns between 21-30 March 2025 with an exciting line-up, including artists from the UK. UK artists featured at the 2025 festival include Claudia Molitor, Ayanna Witter-Johnson and Laura Bowler. The full line-up will be published in February.
Coming of Age. Age of Coming. Of Coming Age marks Matt Copson’s first institutional solo exhibition. In his hybrid practice—drawing from pop culture, myths, ancient philosophy, and medieval folklore—Copson explores existential questions and contemporary subjectivity, which he sees as increasingly defined by constant flux, spectacle, and the economies of attention. More details here.
Art meets music: Peter Doherty’s second solo exhibition “Felt Better Alive” will open at the Janine Bean Gallery, Berlin on 6 February 2025. Doherty, known as the frontman of the bands ‘The Libertines’, ‘Babyshambles’ and others, expands his artistic palette with this exhibition and creates an innovative intersection of visual art and music. ‘Felt Better Alive’ is not just a collection of artworks, but an expression of his deep, creative journey.
Artist Varvara Keidan Shavrova’s new solo exhibition will open at the Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation in Berlin on 1 February 2025. The exhibition focuses on Shavrova’s social and performative textile installation, Migrants Blankets (2018). She will run a workshop on 2 February for participants who wish to use creative techniques to transform personal memories into unique artworks.
Professor Winfried Hensinger gave the 2023 Queen's Lecture on Constructing the World’s Most Incredible Machines: Quantum Computers. Since 1997, the Queen’s Lecture has taken place at the TU Berlin. Each year, a renowned British scientist delivers a lecture on her or his area of expertise. The Queen's Lecture is a collaboration between Technical University Berlin, the British Embassy in Germany, and the British Council Germany.