With an exhibition and a festival, the Akademie der Künste explores the legacy of two extraordinary figures of the 20th century. The political and artistic endeavors of Eslanda Cardozo Goode Robeson (1895–1965) and Paul Robeson (1898–1976) were an expression of a way of thinking that understood the world in relations and of an uncompromising resistance to all forms of oppression. Opening on 13 November at 7 pm.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of its archives, the Akademie der Künste is opening its repositories and showing auratic documents and objects from its collection. The title of the exhibition is meant literally. Selected from cardboard boxes and filing boxes, from drawers, cabinets and folders, 75 objects tell stories about the creation of artistic works, about the structure and organisation of cultural knowledge, about transmission and lacunae.

The Schaudepot (display depot) provides an exclusive insight into the Akademie der Künste’s outstanding collection of architectural models. The highlights of the collection can be seen in a permanent exhibition with a selection of the more than 750 models from the Architectural Archives by over 50 artists. Temporary exhibitions explore current topics relating to architecture and urban planning. Guided tours in German.

In the middle of the political “Tauwetter-Periode” (thaw period), the master students of the German Akademie der Künste celebrate carnival in the coal cellar in 1957 and 1958. The murals by Manfred Böttcher, Harald Metzkes, Ernst Schroeder and Horst Zickelbein can be visited as a unique testimony to unofficial art in the GDR and as part of the eventful history of the institution and the building. Guided tours in German.

Bertolt Brecht's study, Helene Weigel's conservatory, Anna Seghers' “crow's nest” : Regular tours offer visitors a chance to view the homes and studies of the writer Bertolt Brecht, actress and theatre director Helene Weigel and the writer Anna Seghers, largely kept in their original condition. The tours provide an insight into how these three major international figures in the arts world of the 20th century lived and worked. In German.

The Akademie der Künste is an international community of artists that currently totals 414 members in its six Sections Visual Arts, Architecture, Music, Literature, Performing Arts, Film and Media Arts. It is an exhibition and event location. Its Archives collectively form one of the most important interdisciplinary archives on 20th century art. Founded in 1696, the Akademie der Künste is one of the oldest cultural institutes in Europe.