Pace Gallery Berlin turns into artist bar for group show on lost innocence

Pace Gallery's Berlin space has been transformed into an artist-designed bar for the group exhibition 'Goodbye Sadness, Hello Sadness', open from July 4 to August 23, 2026. The show features works by 27 artists, all inspired by Françoise Sagan's 1954 novel 'Bonjour Tristesse' and the theme of lost innocence. Central to the exhibition is 'Bar Va Bene', a faithful replica of the bar artist Friedrich Kunath built in his Los Angeles studio, complete with red neon signs reading 'Goodbye Sadness' and 'Hello Sadness'. The bar is open to the public Thursday through Sunday from 5 to 10 PM, serving wine and cocktails. Kunath, who recently concluded a solo show at Tim Van Laere Gallery in Rome on July 14, created a mixtape titled 'The Va Bene Life' featuring Italian artists such as Battiato, Nada, Paolo Conte, Gino Paoli, and Andrea Laszlo De Simone. The bar's shelves include Italian pop culture memorabilia like the Italia 90 mascot 'Ciao' and a Lazio scarf. Other works in the show include a disco ball shaped like a bee by Esben Weile Kjaer and a door sculpture by Elmgreen & Dragset titled 'But I'm on The Guest List' (2007-15) that leads nowhere. A text by writer and musician Tim Karl Kaleyta accompanies the installation.