Summary
- Pace Berlin is currently hosting a new group exhibition, Goodbye Sadness, Hello Sadness
- The show features 27 artists whose work explores the emotional terrains of night and nightlife, spanning immersive installations, sculpture, painting, and photography
- A highlight of the show is “Bar Va Bene” (2026), a functioning recreation of Friedrich Kunath’s studio bar in Los Angeles
The current exhibition, Goodbye Sadness, Hello Sadness, surprisingly features a bar as its main focus. However, this is typical for Pace Berlin, known for its unusual and creative spaces. The gallery, located in a former 1950s gas station in Schöneberg, consistently delivers unexpected settings and designs.
The gallery’s new group exhibition, on view until August 23rd, captures the vibrant and sometimes bittersweet atmosphere of nightlife. The show centers around a recreation of artist Friedrich Kunath’s famous studio bar, “Bar Va Bene,” and features work by 27 artists – including David Lynch, Pol Taburet, Robert Nava, Kylie Manning, Elmgreen & Dragset, and Alicja Kwade – to immerse visitors in the world of after-hours experiences.
The art bar “Goodbye Sadness, Hello Sadness,” named after Françoise Sagan’s 1954 novel Bonjour Tristesse, explores themes of freedom and connection. Sagan’s book, known for its honest portrayal of desire and pleasure, inspires the exhibition to consider how nighttime embodies both opportunity and uncertainty – it’s a time for socializing, but also a symbol of what might be.
The time between evening and morning holds a wealth of possibilities, explored in several artworks. Some pieces play with ideas of nightlife and privilege – for example, Elmgreen & Dragset’s ‘But I’m on The Guest List’ is a VIP doorway that doesn’t lead anywhere, and Esben Weile Kjær’s ‘Flash’ transforms a disco ball into a huge, glittering bee. Meanwhile, Lauren Quin shows a new painting built from expressive brushstrokes, capturing a sense of ambiguity, and Kylie Manning presents work that explores similar emotional depths.
You can now see the exhibition Goodbye Sadness, Hello Sadness in Berlin until August 23rd. The gallery will have later opening hours for the event “Bar Va Bene,” open from 5 PM to 10 PM, Thursday through Sunday. Find a complete list of the artists featured below.
Featured artists:
This list includes the names of artists: Carolina Aguirre, Jürgen Baldiga, Norbert Bisky, Monica Bonvicini, Albrecht Dürer, Martin Eder, Leon Eisermann, Elmgreen & Dragset, Xie Fan, Gregor Hildebrandt, Okka-Esther Hungerbühler, Max Jahn, Esben Weile Kjaer, Friedrich Kunath, Alicja Kwade, Nadine Lohof, David Lynch, Kylie Manning, Andreas Mühe, Robert Nava, Trevor Paglen, Lauren Quin, Christian Rosa, Jeremy Shaw, Pol Taburet, Tristan Unrau, and Sally von Rosen.
2026-07-25 00:26