© Christoffer Collina
Weekend Tips: What to Do This Weekend in Berlin
August 7 to 9, 2026: Events, festivals, exhibitions and more things to do for your perfect weekend in Berlin. more
Pearls and Hooks
Laura Bruce
Cowgirl Blues, 2019
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
The visual worlds of Laura Bruce (born 1959 in East Orange, NJ, USA), which are as impressive as they are enigmatic, emerge at the fertile intersection of figuration and abstraction. Large-format colored-pencil drawings, glazed ink paintings, and color-glazed ceramics characterize the extensive solo exhibition by the Berlin-based artist.
Drawing on countless “micro-stories”—quickly executed, mostly small-format drawings and ink sketches—the artist has, over the course of some 30 years, developed an extensive body of large-format drawings and paintings. These “micro-stories” serve as a complex reservoir of figures, motifs, and visual reminiscences for numerous series of drawings in which both the fragmented human body and symbol systems rich in meaning play a central role. Laura Bruce’s work is characterized by the art of combination—whether it be the combination of forms, body fragments, and arabesques in individual sheets, or the large-scale combination of multi-part works in clusters and tableaux. Added to this is a recurring dialogue with art history, as seen, for example, in the comprehensive drawing series *Perpetual*, 2017, in which the artist engages intensively with Francisco de Goya’s *Los Caprichos*, a series of socially critical aquatint etchings published in 1799.
Thus, against the backdrop of a resonant space of memory—both subjective and cultural—visual narratives emerge that rarely culminate in a concrete story, but rather form fields rich in associations of pictorial analogies and correspondences.
ZAK / Gallery / Ground FloorTranslated with DeepL
Drawing on countless “micro-stories”—quickly executed, mostly small-format drawings and ink sketches—the artist has, over the course of some 30 years, developed an extensive body of large-format drawings and paintings. These “micro-stories” serve as a complex reservoir of figures, motifs, and visual reminiscences for numerous series of drawings in which both the fragmented human body and symbol systems rich in meaning play a central role. Laura Bruce’s work is characterized by the art of combination—whether it be the combination of forms, body fragments, and arabesques in individual sheets, or the large-scale combination of multi-part works in clusters and tableaux. Added to this is a recurring dialogue with art history, as seen, for example, in the comprehensive drawing series *Perpetual*, 2017, in which the artist engages intensively with Francisco de Goya’s *Los Caprichos*, a series of socially critical aquatint etchings published in 1799.
Thus, against the backdrop of a resonant space of memory—both subjective and cultural—visual narratives emerge that rarely culminate in a concrete story, but rather form fields rich in associations of pictorial analogies and correspondences.
ZAK / Gallery / Ground FloorTranslated with DeepL
Runtime: Sat, 19/09/2026 to Sun, 03/01/2027
Price info: Almost every 1st Sunday of the month is Citadel Sunday and admission is free.
Price: €4.50
Reduced price: €2.50
Reduced price info: Pupils - children aged 6-14 - students - trainees - people who receive transfer benefits (ALG II, social welfare, benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act) - GdB 50, MdE on presentation of the relevant ID.
public guided tours of Spandau Citadel
every Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm
€4.50 per person plus Citadel ticket
(on the last Saturday of the month, the guided tour of the exhibition "Unveiled. Berlin and its monuments")
The following guided tours are canceled due to major events:
11.07.2026
03. + 04.10.2026
Price: €4.50
Reduced price: €2.50
Reduced price info: Pupils - children aged 6-14 - students - trainees - people who receive transfer benefits (ALG II, social welfare, benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act) - GdB 50, MdE on presentation of the relevant ID.
public guided tours of Spandau Citadel
every Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm
€4.50 per person plus Citadel ticket
(on the last Saturday of the month, the guided tour of the exhibition "Unveiled. Berlin and its monuments")
The following guided tours are canceled due to major events:
11.07.2026
03. + 04.10.2026
Takes place here:
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