Since the mid-60s Michael Ruetz has observed the transformation of urban habitats in a large-scale photographic study. Ruetz’ images of Berlin are an expression of how architecture can shape and redefine our environment, thus giving it a prerogative of interpretation over our perception. His photo series develop their own aesthetics beyond documentary sobriety, revealing a poetry of time in the process.

Critical listening is the first step toward an ethics and aesthetics of care and freedom. Accepting new sounds gives access to other layers of history and experience. Artists from South Africa and Germany share their listening experiences in new sound works and installations, combining indigenous sound practices and spirituality with the latest technologies and contemporary forms of artistic expression.

In a time plagued by wars and upheavel, the Akademie der Künste is dedicating itself to the subject of utopia. Akademie President Jeanine Meerapfel has invited the artistic sections of the Akademie to participate in this programme dedicated to historical and contemporary utopias for imagining better futures. With artistic installations, lectures, talks, concerts, film screenings and theatre performances.

What contributions can artists make to demand a policy that addresses climate change efficiently and expediently? How can art foster and encourage the necessary transformation of society? More than 40 Akademie members participate in the project and deal with these current key issues artistically. In personal statements made to our society, they call on each and every individual to push for climate protection.

Bertolt Brecht's study, Helene Weigel's conservatory, Anna Seghers' “crow's nest” : Regular tours offer visitors a chance to view the homes and studies of the writer Bertolt Brecht, actress and theatre director Helene Weigel and the writer Anna Seghers, largely kept in their original condition. The tours provide an insight into how these three major international figures in the arts world of the 20th century lived and worked.

The Library of the Arts is one of the largest special libraries on culture and the modernist arts. Its holdings are characterised by media from every artistic genre from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day, as well as valuable private libraries, which are accessible to everyone free of charge. The voyage of discovery through its treasures begins in the Reading Room and leads into the hidden stacks. Guided tour in German.

The Akademie der Künste is an international community of artists that currently totals 407 members in its six Sections Visual Arts, Architecture, Music, Literature, Performing Arts, Film and Media Arts. It is an exhibition and event location. Its Archives collectively form one of the most important interdisciplinary archives on 20th century art. Founded in 1696, the Akademie der Künste in Berlin is one of the oldest cultural institutes in Europe.