Courage: Sisters in Spirit

Featuring works by Yevgenia Belorusets, Christa Jeitner, Magdalena Jetelová, Lesia Pcholka, Luise Schröder, Gundula Schulze Eldowy, Natalia Vatsadze, Eva Vent

Curated by Katharina von Hagenow, Lena Prents and Susanne Weiß

Opening: Thursday, September 3, 2026, 6:00 pm
Exhibition: September 4 – January 3, 2027

With the exhibition “Courage: Sisters in Spirit,” the municipal Prater Galerie is reopening its doors in Berlin’s Prater after extensive renovations. The inaugural exhibition looks back at the history of the Prater Galerie while also focusing on contemporary art from Eastern Europe.

“Courage” is a collaborative project with the ifa – Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations that focuses on the work and activities of the Center for Art Exhibitions of the GDR (ZfK). The municipal Prater Galerie has existed on Kastanienallee in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg for many decades, a few brief interruptions notwithstanding. The space was an important exhibition venue for contemporary art in East Berlin. The employees of the Centre for Art Exhibitions of the GDR (Zentrum für Kunstausstellungen der DDR or ZfK) and the artists operating the Galerie am Prater maintained a lively exchange. This was a place for seeing and discussing contemporary art, and works on view at the gallery were often selected and acquired for ZfK exhibitions. It comes as no surprise that the ZfK’s collection includes numerous works by artists who also held solo shows at the Galerie am Prater. Women’s voices were noticeably underrepresented – an asymmetry typical of the time. The exhibition Courage reverses this dynamic by showing artworks exclusively by women. In particular, these women artists critiqued the status quo and openly practiced resistance – and continue to do so – both in their private lives and in their art. Works by Eva Vent, Gundula Schulze Eldowy and Magdalena Jetelová from the ZfK and ifa collections are juxtaposed with contemporary works by their “sisters in spirit” from Eastern Europe.

Program

Rauschen, Kosmos, Courag – Shuttle Bus Tour
September 9, 2026, 2-6 PM
with Susanne Weiß, Sylvie Kürsten, Luise Schröder and Katharina von Hagenow

Silkscreen Printing Workshop: Public Print Movement goes Publik Machen
September 12, 2026, 3–5 PM
with Katharina Marszewski

Nur Mut! – Empowering Karaoke Session
October 3, 2026, 4c PM
with Fenek Sélavy

Performance: LET ME SHOW YOU SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL
October 9, 2026, 4–9 PM
Natalia Vatsadze

Art Tour: Mitte > Pankow > Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
October 10, 2026, 2–6 PM
registration by latest 4 October 2026 at mail@kgberlin.net

The exhibition Courage is part of the ifa’s exhibition series Publik Machen. Across six chapters, the exhibition explores the work of the Center for Art Exhibitions of the GDR (ZfK), whose graphic arts collection was transferred to the ifa in 1991. The project is a collaboration with the Kunsthaus Dresden and the ifa Gallery Berlin, Biesdorf Palace, KVOST, the Prater Gallery, and the Galerie im Turm.

The exhibition is supported by the Fund for Exhibition Grants for Visual Artists of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.

The six-part exhibition series Making Public in 2026 is presented by the ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen in cooperation with the Wüstenrot Foundation. The exhibition is suproted by Hauptstadtkulturfonds.

Prater Galerie