Kreuzberg Exhibition at Gropius Bau Highlights Migrant Art History

The Gropius Bau in Berlin is hosting 'Kreuzberg: Kunst und Migration seit 1960', an exhibition curated by Gürsoy Doğtas and Patrizia Dander. It showcases art by immigrants from Greece, Turkey, Iran, and other countries who came to West Berlin as dissidents or guest workers in the 1970s and 1980s. The show features realistic, politically engaged works that address migration, exile, racism, housing shortages, and labor conditions, often in oil or stone. Notable pieces include Monika Sieveking's 'Gruppenbild mit Siemensarbeitern' (1973) and Sohrab Shahid Saless's film 'In der Fremde' (1975). The exhibition also highlights historical moments such as the 1975 nGbK show 'Mehmet Berlin’de / Mehmet kam aus Anatolien' and Vlassis Caniaris's 'Gastarbeiter – Fremdarbeiter'. Doğtas, who also co-curates Manifesta 16, describes this art as 'pre-postmigrant' and aims to fill a gap in art history. The exhibition runs in the context of the Berlin Art Week 2026 and is seen as a step toward recognizing the lives of workers often ignored by museums.