Hamburger Bahnhof, Germany’s top contemporary art museum is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Cate Blanchett is among the host committee members for its fundraising gala, Eine Nacht in Berlin (A Night in Berlin),  in March according to German art magazine, Monopol. Julian Rosefeldt’s “Manifesto” (2015) where Cate performed 13 different characters reciting different manifestos was exhibited at the museum in 2016.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary this spring, the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin is planning a fundraising gala featuring international stars. The host committee includes film luminaries Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss, and Matt Dillon; director Wim Wenders ; Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle; Schaubühne artistic director Thomas Ostermeier; techno musician Ellen Allien; Vogue Germany editor-in-chief Kerstin Wenig; Berlin Philharmonic director Andrea Zietschmann; and Elisabeth Sobotka, artistic director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Also participating are prominent artists such as Monica Bonvicini, Mark Bradford, Elmgreen & Dragset, Anne Imhof , and Wolfgang Tillmans .

The Hamburger Bahnhof first opened its doors as a museum of contemporary art on November 3, 1996. The anniversary year’s program includes a major festival weekend in mid-November with a 30-hour special program and free admission.

For the directors of the Hamburger Bahnhof, Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath , the evening represents more than just a presentation of their institution. “For us, the Hamburger Bahnhof is something like a microcosm of Berlin. In our anniversary year, we want to reflect in numerous exhibitions and events on what the last 30 years have meant in Berlin and what we are taking from the past into the future. And then we thought we also needed a moment in which we could condense all of that and make it visible: how we think about institutions, how we think about Berlin. We wanted the city’s institutions to come together and say: Berlin is important and always will be,” explains Sam Bardaouil in an interview with Monopol magazine.

The evening’s program is a collaborative effort involving many participants. Cate Blanchett will be one of the keynote speakers at the gala, with musical contributions from the Philharmonic, the State Opera, and Ellen Allien. The Schaubühne will present performances, and the artistic design of the main hall will be provided by Elmgreen & Dragset, with an intervention by Monica Bonvicini.

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