On June 1, PASSAGE presents the opening of Groteske (2026), a new work by Pedro Moraes installed inside Hermannplatz U-Bahn station in Neukölln. The exhibition opening will take place from 7–9pm, with drinks served throughout the evening. Following the opening, the work will remain continuously accessible to the public for one month.

Groteske presents a technical sculpture in public space that recreates a fundamental bodily process: human breath on glass. Within a closed system, humid air is directed at regular intervals onto a cooled glass surface. The resulting condensation appears only briefly as the visible trace of a breath before disappearing again moments later.

Rather than focusing on the functionality of the apparatus itself, the work reactivates an everyday yet largely unconscious moment of bodily self-awareness. The fogging of glass—familiar from public transportation or crowded urban environments—is isolated and condensed into a minimal and fleeting visual event. Through repetition, the work draws attention to the fragile threshold between visibility and disappearance, presence and absence. Installed within the transit architecture of Hermannplatz station, the work becomes embedded in an environment defined by movement, density, and repetition. The station acts not simply as a backdrop, but as an active resonant space in which attention is fragmented and bodily micro-events rarely become perceptible.

PASSAGE

PASSAGE was founded in May 2024 with the opening of an exhibition space inside Berlin’s Hermannplatz U-Bahn station. Inspired by Lucio Amelio’s legendary Pièce Unique gallery in Paris, PASSAGE began as a radical project to display art directly in public space. Since its inception, it has presented 25 exhibitions, working with 80 artists and 27 international galleries. By activating space as a medium, PASSAGE explores the outer edges of contemporary curation through site-specific presentations that engage directly with their environment. What started as a subway-based art intervention has evolved into an international curatorial platform, presenting exhibitions both in Berlin and abroad. PASSAGE is instinctive and independent. It exhibits both emerging, established and historic artists, without representing them in the traditional sense. Each exhibition develops in close dialogue with the artists, with curatorial attention extending to texts, documentation, and archiving - all considered integral components of the project. Alongside its exhibition program, PASSAGE operates a multidisciplinary art residency at Schloss Willebadessen, a former Benedictine convent founded in 1149 in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Each summer, the residency hosts three cohorts of artists.

Founded: 2024