The Best Exhibitions for Gays, Lesbians and Queers in Summer

According to legend, when world-famous photographer Helmut Newton caught the flu in 1970, he showed his wife June Newton a few tricks on the camera. At the time, they were both living in Paris and June Newton had no success on stage as an Australian actress due to language barriers. But behind the camera, she was as talented as her husband. She soon worked under the pseudonym Alice Springs and specialised in portrait photography. In a career that spanned decades, she photographed colleagues such as Richard Avedon, Sheila Metzner and Robert Mapplethorpe, as well as actors such as Nicole Kidman, Isabelle Adjani, and Liam Neeson. In the exhibition, which is taking place on the occasion of the 100th birthday of June Newton/Alice Springs, portraits of Helmut Newton are also on display for visitors – as an exception - in front of the camera!

Alice Springs. Retrospektive
3 June until 19 November, 2023
Museum für Fotografie, Jebensstraße 2, 10623 Berlin-Charlottenburg
Train station Zoologischer Garten
Website Alice Springs. Retrospektive
Website Museum für Fotografie

In the 1990s, life was still alternative and affordable, not only in Berlin. In San Francisco on the US West Coast, artistic life was also flourishing in all its glory almost three decades ago. The photographer Chloe Sherman moved to San Francisco at that time to study. She quickly began documenting the lives of young and queer people in the Mission District. Her images show a society that rebelled against heteronormative constraints and developed its own rules for its queer life.

Chloe Sherman: Renegades / San Francisco: Queer Life in the 1990s
30 June until 3 September, 2023
f³ – freiraum für fotografie, Waldemarstraße 17, 10179 Berlin-Kreuzberg
Metro station Moritzplatz
Website Renegades San Francisco: Queer Life in the 1990s
Website f³ – freiraum für fotografie

Tilla Durieux was born in Vienna in 1880 as Ottilie Godeffroy. Her career aspirations as an actress became apparent at an early age - much to the disapproval of her parents. For this reason, she adopted her grandmother's surname. She had her first successful acting roles at a young age, and with the onset of the First World War in 1914, she worked provisionally as nurse in Buch, later settling in Berlin. During the Weimar Republic she became a sought-after actress. During the Nazi era she fled Berlin but continued to be active on theatre stages and in film in other countries. At the height of her career, she was considered one of the most frequently portrayed women. These same portraits are on display in the new exhibition in Durieux's honour. Among the artists are Lovis Corinth, Frieda Riess, August Gaul, Emil Orlik, Auguste Renoir, and Lotte Jacobi.

Tilla Durieux: A Witness to a Century and Her Roles
13 May until 20 August, 2023
Georg Kolbe Museum, Sensburger Allee 25, 14055 Berlin-Charlottenburg
Train station Heerstraße
Website A Witness to a Century and Her Roles
Website Georg Kolbe Museum

"Inquiring creates space for people's stories" was the ZeitZeugenBörse's motto for its new exhibition. For this, they interviewed 12 contemporary witnesses from Berlin about their migration experiences. The answers were recorded on film and can now be visited and viewed. The questions and answers shed light on migration processes and draw attention to their challenges.

Berlin Contemporary Witnesses and their Migration Experiences
16 June until 17 September, 2023
Mitte Museum, Pankstraße 47, 13357 Berlin-Wedding
Metro station Pankstraße
Website Exhibition
Website vom Mitte Museum

From 17 to 25 June 2023, the Special Olympic Games will be held in Berlin for the first time in Germany. These Games are the world's largest inclusive sporting event. Thousands of athletes with intellectual and/or multiple disabilities will compete in 26 sports. Luca Siermann has been photographing Special Olympics participants since 2004. In honour of the event in the capital, there is a pop-up exhibition showing athletes from past games.

Luca Siermann: Special Olympics Portrait Project
10 June until 10 July, 2023
Humboldt Forum, Schloßplatz 1, 10178 Berlin-Mitte
Metro station Museumsinsel
Website Special Olympics Portrait Project
Website Humboldt Forum

Secession refers to the splitting off of numerous groups of modern artists from the prevailing art theories and art movements. This happened at the turn of the last century in three German-speaking cities in close succession: in Munich in 1892, in Vienna in 1897 and in Berlin in 1899. The breakaway at that time and the shift into new artistic movements is particularly associated with the artists Gustav Klimt, Franz von Stuck and Max Liebermann. However, the works of other artists who were hot on the heels of the new art movements Symbolism, Art Nouveau and Impressionism during this period are also presented in this exhibition.

Secession – Klimt, Stuck, Liebermann
23 June until 22 October, 2023
Alte Nationalgalerie, Bodestraße 1-3, 10178 Berlin-Mitte
Train Station Hackescher Markt
Website Secessions – Klimt, Stuck, Liebermann
Website Alte Nationalgalerie

Seven years ago, Travesty for Germany was founded. Together, 75 drag artists declared war on all forms of antisemitism, racism, sexism, and chauvinism. Here, however, fists are not clenched, but opponents are conquered through multimedia with art, satire, podcasts, political talks, books, demos and, of course, a full load of political commitment. To mark the seventh anniversary, posters and other works from the past years will be presented.

Travestie für Deutschland
30 June until 13 August, 2023
PINK.ART, Biesentaler Straße 24, 13359 Berlin-Wedding
Metro station Pankstraße
Website Travestie für Deutschland
Website PINK.ART

Rüdiger Trautsch, the most important chronicler of the gay, and later queer, movement in Germany, passed away in autumn 2021. The Hamburg-born photographer took pictures of the first gay protest marches in Münster and West Berlin in the 1970s and the last Folsom event in front of Corona in Berlin. In addition, there are also shots of Warhol, Mapplethorpe, and other celebrities in Trautsch's estate, which is in the archives of the Schwules Museum and is now on display. For the upcoming Pride months, the exhibition is a good place to journey into Germany's queer history.

Photography as a Way of Life. Rüdiger Trautsch, 50 years of pictures
16 June until 18 September, 2023
Schwules Museum, Lützowstraße 73, 10785 Berlin
Metro station Nollendorfplatz
Website of Schwules Museum

The film, video, and installation artist Pınar Öğrenci deals with social, political, and historical issues in her works, always from a de-colonialising and feminist perspective. She also focuses on migration, displacement, state violence and strategies of resistance. In the IBB video room of the Berlinische Galerie, her film Aşît/The Avalanche from 2022 will be shown. It was produced for documenta fifteen. For this, Öğrenci travelled to her father's hometown, Müküs (Turkish: Bahçesaray), on the border to Iran. The title is Kurdish and refers, among other things, to the genocide of the 1.5 million Armenians in this region during the First World War. In her film, the director follows in the footsteps of those who were murdered, expelled, or forced to assimilate.

Pınar Öğrenci
26 May until 31 July, 2023
IBB Videoraum, Berlinische Galerie, Alte Jakobstraße 124-128, 10969 Berlin-Kreuzberg
Metro station Moritzplatz
Website Exhibition Pınar Öğrenc
Website Berlinische Galerie

“My mom saw me in her dreams as a unicorn before I was even born.” The one and only dream unicorn evolved into an illustrator and artist, but he has lost nothing of the queer energy of the mythical creature, quite the opposite. The works of Tariq Alsaadi, who was born in Syria and lives in Berlin, are sensual, sexy, and queer.

Tariq Alsaadi: Queer Dreams
07 June until 30 June, 2023
The Social Hub, Alexanderstraße 40, 10179 Berlin-Mitte
Train station Jannowitzbrücke
Instagram account of Tariq Alsaad
Website The Social Hub

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Words: Julian Beyer