Sarkis Transforms Berlin's Maxim Gorki Theatre Into a Living Fugue

A New Season Unfolds at the Maxim Gorki

The Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin has selected Turkish-born French artist Sarkis to inaugurate its latest artistic chapter. Running from early September through mid-October 2026, the exhibition and performance series FUGE establishes a structural framework inspired by polyphonic music. Rather than presenting static displays, the project treats the entire venue as a dynamic environment where disparate histories and creative voices interact continuously.

Hailing from Istanbul in 1938, he relocated to Paris during the mid-1960s and has since examined the intersections of displacement, archival memory, and spatial design. His practice frequently incorporates found objects and personal archives, most notably within his ongoing Kriegsschatz initiative. For this engagement, he transforms a weathered human skull into a reflective surface bearing the ghostly imprint of his own visage. Rain cascades across its segmented form, infusing seven distinct hues that gradually crystallise into rotating continental shapes. Each component functions as a mise-en-scène, deliberately constructed to invite audience participation rather than demand passive observation.

Central to the commission is a renewed dialogue with Polish avant-garde director Tadeusz Kantor. Through a partnership with Kraków's Cricoteka documentation centre, Sarkis resurrects elements of Kantor's mobile stage apparatus. Visitors can encounter a reconstructed set for the director's 1944 production The Return of Odysseus within the upper foyer. This physical reconstruction serves as a catalyst for further interventions, including a film presentation and two live performances. Contemporary choreographers Mickey Mahar and Çiğdem Teke will collaborate with former Cricot-2 member Bogdan Renczyński to reinterpret the historic work, bridging mid-century experimental theatre with present-day movement practices.

The atmospheric layer extends beyond visual sculpture. In the main auditorium, Frank Steijns performs John Cage's Litany for the Whale on a custom forty-three-bell carillon. The resonant frequencies travel through the building's corridors, while suspended chandeliers crafted from avian feathers respond to ambient air currents, introducing organic rhythm into the acoustic space. Meanwhile, Sarkis's Atelier de l'eau occupies the ground floor, utilising fluid dynamics to demonstrate how light, pigment, and temporal progression intersect.

Throughout the run, the intergenerational collective known as the Golden Gorkis moves through these zones, employing vocalisation and gestural vocabulary to stitch together the various installations. Their presence reinforces the titular concept: much like a musical fugue, individual threads enter the narrative, diverge, and eventually return in altered forms. The theatre ceases to function as a conventional performance box, instead operating as a permeable container where past and present coexist without hierarchical ordering.

Opening ceremonies commence on Friday, 4 September 2026 at 1pm, marking the start of the 2026/27 programming cycle. The project remains accessible daily until 11 October, operating between 1pm and 9pm. Entry carries no fee, though visitors must book specific time slots online due to restricted gallery capacity. By dissolving traditional boundaries between spectator and spectacle, Sarkis demonstrates how institutional spaces can be recalibrated to honour accumulated heritage while remaining thoroughly responsive to contemporary inquiry.