The exhibition project Berlin plant. Stunde Null at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) reconstructs and contextualizes the historic exhibition Berlin plant – Erster Bericht (Berlin Plans. First Report). Originally held in 1946 in the temporarily restored White Hall of the Berlin Palace, it introduced a broad public to the Kollektivplan (collective plan) for Berlin’s postwar reconstruction. Marking its 80th anniversary, the project highlights the contemporary relevance of this radical urban design. The plan was developed by a planning collective commissioned by City Architect Hans Scharoun, whose close circle included Wils Ebert, Peter Friedrich, Ludmilla Herzenstein, Reinhold Lingner, and Herbert Weinberger.

With a walk-through reconstruction at 1:4 scale, n.b.k. revisits this historic exhibition, which anticipated groundbreaking ecological building principles and pursued participatory approaches. The exhibition includes previously unpublished original plans and materials while also examining the complex historical reception of the Kollektivplan, ranging from rejection and suppression to its enduring influence. It also engages with the discourse surrounding the concept of Stunde Null (Zero Hour). This controversial term implies both the unconditional surrender and the total economic and moral collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945, as well as the hope for a new beginning, unburdened by the past.

Alongside the exhibition, n.b.k. presents a program of films about postwar Germany (Trümmerfilme, literally “rubble films”) in cooperation with Babylon. A one-day symposium at silent green Kulturquartier on June 20 complements the project.

Discourse Program

June 11 – August 2, 2026

Film Program at Babylon

Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 30, 10178 Berlin

With talks by and lectures with Michael Baute, Volker Heise, Edgar Reitz, and Margarethe von Trotta

Find more information as well as all screening dates here

Saturday, June 20, 2026, 1–8:30 pm

Symposium at silent green Kulturquartier

Gerichtstraße 35, 13347 Berlin

With Michael Augustin, Ralf Bock, Greg Castillo, Andrea Contursi, Simone Hain, Christa Kamleithner, Christina Lindemann, Philipp Oswalt, Hansjörg Schneider, Axel Zutz, moderated by Thomas Flierl

For more information and the full program please click here

Publication

A bilingual publication (German/English) will be published on the occasion of the exhibition in the “n.b.k. Ausstellungen” series by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, Cologne.