20th Century Debris
April 17–September 14, 2026
Alte Jakobstraße 124-128
Berlin 10969
Germany
Hours: Monday and Wednesday–Sunday 10am–6pm
T +49 30 78902600
bg@berlinischegalerie.de
Press tour: April 16, 11am
Opening: April 16, 7pm
The work of Berlin-based artist Marc Brandenburg (b. 1965) moves between drawing, collage, installation, video, and performance. He has been a fixture of Berlin’s creative scene since the 1980s and is among the most important artist-draftspersons of the present internationally. Central to his work are detailed pencil drawings after photographic sources. Brandenburg captures them on forays through the city or finds them in magazines, films, and books. In several work steps, he inverts the pictures, reverses light and dark areas, distorts them, and finally transfers them freely to paper. What result are thus abstracted pictures of reality.
As a close observer of life in the metropolis, Brandenburg seeks out the peculiarities of urban reality and directs his attention to seemingly trivial things beyond standardized notions of beauty. At the same time, pop culture symbols are part of his world of images: portraits of famous individuals, pornography, fast food, kitsch. Brandenburg regards excess and consumption as well as social ills as effects of late capitalism. His pictures nonetheless rarely transport a narrative, but instead generate a melancholic and ominous atmosphere that subtly references the crises of our era: 20th Century Debris.
The exhibition presents about 150 works by the artist with loans, for instance, from the Deutsche Bank Collection, the Federal Republic of Germany’s Contemporary Art Collection, the Kupferstichkabinett of the Berlin State Museums, as well as other private and public collections. They include both current and also early, rarely shown drawings from the 1990s, alongside videos, tattoo editions, and photographs.
About the artist
Marc Brandenburg was born in West Berlin in 1965. He spent his early childhood in the United States. In 1977, he returned to his home city, where punk became a formative experience and he found himself in the creative subculture of West Berlin. Through fashion, Brandenburg came to art as an autodidact and he started exhibiting his drawings in the 1990s. Solo exhibitions followed, for instance, at Künstlerhaus Bethanien (1993), MMK Frankfurt (2005), Denver Art Museum (2010), Hamburger Kunsthalle (2011), PalaisPopulaire (2021), Städel Museum (2021/2022), and many others. He lives and works today in Berlin and Barcelona.
Exhibition catalogue
A bilingual catalogue in German and English will be published by DISTANZ and can be purchased at the museum shop for 29,80 EUR.
Brandenboogie #1, #2: June 26 and August 14, 5–10pm
References to music and pop culture appear throughout Marc Brandenburg’s work. At the Brandenboogie, he DJs live within the exhibition, creating unique soundtracks to the artworks. For these evenings, Brandenburg has also produced a new edition of temporary tattoos. All visitors are invited to apply the tattoos and become living carriers of his drawings—while supplies last.
Press contact
Karoline Köber, Communications & Strategic Consulting: T +49 174 53 54 165 / mail@karolinekoeber.de
Contact Berlinische Galerie
Berlinische Galerie, Museum for Modern Art, Photography and Architecture
Sascha Perkins, Head of Communications and Education: T +49 30 789 02 829 / perkins@berlinischegalerie.de
