Klára Hosnedlová’s 2025 CHANEL Commission “embrace.” © Courtesy of the artist, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, White Cube / Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Zdeněk Porcal – Studio Flusser

Since opening in 1996 in the former terminal station of the Berlin-Hamburg railway, Hamburger Bahnhof has become one of the leading museums of contemporary art in Berlin as well as across Europe. Under the direction of Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, who took over in January 2022, the museum has embraced a dynamic, inclusive and forward-looking approach, staging ambitious exhibitions and commissions while expanding its role as a platform for extensive public programming. During Berlin Art Week last month, Observer spoke with Bardaouil about the museum’s evolution, its vision and the challenges of navigating a shifting cultural climate in both the city and the country as a whole, as well as the opportunities to explore new models that may emerge from this moment.

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Bardaouil describes the programming at Hamburger Bahnhof as a “continuous state of becoming”—never static, always porous. “It is shaped by artists who confront the urgencies of our time with the courage of their imagination,” he said, pointing to the museum’s recent exhibitions: Toyin Ojih Odutola, whose intimate explorations of displacement and belonging unfolded in an urban setting inspired by the city, complicating notions of identity and history; Korean artist Ayoung Kim, who examined fractured futures through time-based media and video game-inspired installations; Petrit Halilaj, who transformed personal memory into monumental sculpture and fragile poetry; and Delcy Morelos, whose visceral use of earth brought ritual and resonance into contemporary debates. “These are not decorative gestures,” Bardaouil emphasized, “but propositions for how art can expand what we know and how we live together.”

Since taking over the institution, Bardaouil and Fellrath’s curatorial vision has been guided by several key priorities. First, they sought to create dialogues across time and geography—bringing together established figures and emerging voices in ways that dismantle hierarchies of canon and place. Second, they aimed to use the scale and architecture of the historic building as a language, staging exhibitions that engulf, surround and reconfigure how bodies move through space. Third, they focused on building long-term relationships with diverse communities, developing programs centered on deep listening, sustained engagement and forms of participation embedded in the institution’s DNA. “If there is one principle, it is this: the museum must be restless enough to remain alive to its moment and committed enough to nurture lasting resonance beyond it,” Bardaouil stated.

While dual leadership and co-direction are becoming more common in museums, it remains rare for a curatorial duo to lead an institution as Bardaouil and Fellrath do. The two had........

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