In the 2020s, Berlin’s status as a global cultural capital seems cast into doubt by a number of factors, among them political renationalization, budget cuts across the cultural sector, and rising tensions between the international creative class’s self-image and the needs of locals.

Was the idea of the city as a hub for artists from around the world merely a fiction of the last two decades? More still, are there viable alternatives to nostalgia for the poor but sexy Berlin, or is the city doomed to decay in ever-shorter cycles of memetic self-commodification?

Concluding Berlin Art Week at the Julia Stoschek Foundation Berlin, forthcoming Volksbühne intendant Matthias Lilienthal, artist Henrike Naumann, and Berlin Biennale director Axel Wieder will unpack the end of the city as a cosmopolitan nowhere and what comes after, moderated by critic Pablo Larios.

“Post-Cool Berlin?” was the first in a series of four yearly Spike roundtables on the critical conjunctures in contemporary art, proudly hosted by JSF.

Sunday, 14 Sept 2025 at 7pm
Julia Stoschek Foundation
Leipziger Str. 60, 10117 Berlin

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MATTHIAS LILIENTHAL (*1959) is a dramaturge, lecturer, and actor. In 2026, he will begin his second tenure as artistic director of the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin. 

HENRIKE NAUMANN (*1984) is an artist whose immersive, scenographic installations trace the marks of politics and societal trauma. In 2026, she will co-represent Germany at the 61st Venice Art Biennale, along with Sung Tieu.

AXEL WIEDER (*1971) is an art historian, curator, and writer. Since 2024, he has been the director of the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art.

PABLO LARIOS is a writer, editor, and International Editor at Artforum. Born in Honduras and raised in the US, he lives in Berlin.