Solo exhibition Rikrit Tiravanija

The Berlin retrospective of Rikrit Tiravanija's innovative work also features his spatial intervention ‘Café Deutschland’ from the LBBW Collection.

‘Happiness is not always fun’ is the title of the Berlin retrospective of Rikrit Tiravanija's innovative work, which will run at the Gropius Bau until 21 January 2025 with a varied accompanying programme. Born in Buenos Aires in 1961 and raised in Thailand, the artist has been advocating a concept of art that is characterised by interpersonal relationships, sociable moments and temporary changes in the use of spaces since the mid-1990s.

Together with other artists, he has thus permanently changed and opened up the understanding of the aesthetics and experience of works of art. By cooking, eating, drinking and playing together, Tiravanija always brings people together with his works. His art makes it possible for us to become active creators of his works - a participatory form of art that has also become known as ‘relational aesthetics’.

Participation in the artistic idea and its realisation is thus at the forefront: art is not created in the eye of the beholder alone, but results from the given situation, which for Tiravanija always means an invitation to seek a dialogue with one another and to enter into a mutual exchange. With his works, Rirkrit Tiravanija also builds bridges for cultural understanding and for a diverse society.

The solo exhibition shows over 80 works by the artist, including the spatial intervention ‘Café Deutschland’ from 1993, which is on loan from the LBBW collection in Berlin and invites visitors to new interactions and conversations with Turkish coffee.