From Oktoberfest to the presentation of Werner Herzog's new novel to plenty of opportunities for fantastic architecture and historical insights into the city's most official and unvisitable monuments: September in Berlin is sure to dazzle even the most frequent of visitors and th emost skeptical of locals.

The Miniloft picks for the best events worth a visit in September 2023, divided into 5 major categories:

Visual Arts & Mulitmedia, Photograhy, Music, Culture and Trade Fairs & Business.

Visual Arts & Multimedia

Berlin Art Week

Every year everyone in or passing through Berlin has the possibility to spend a weekend getting acquainted with the latest in the contemporary Berlin art scene. This event harnesses the collaboration of far more than just already-established museums: Some of the highlights include arists' spaces, up-and-coming art galleries and collectives, and also much-coveted private collections ordinarily kept ... well, private.
The event takes place from September 13-17 and participating locations are found throughout all main Berlin districts - Mitte, Kreuzberg, Charlottenburg, etc - as well as a few adventure-worthy places for those brave enough to venture outside the city center, deep into areas B and C. Expect to be surprised!
There are official walking tours as well as bike tours organized by distric/region. Book a tour here:

https://berlinartweek.de/en/tours/

Photography

Opening of "Fotografiska" Berlin - new Photography Museum

Very close to our Miniloft Mitte Apartment Hotel location was the former Art House 'Tacheles' - a large and historic artists' squat. The polemic and very extensive renovation of the building will conclude this month and the new cultural venue right in the city center will have a pop-up cinema, shops, studios, exhibition spaces ... All within the context of the Berlin Art Week.
Among these new exhibition spaces will be a familiar name: Fotografiska. The Swedish Contemporary Museum of Photography, Art & Culture will open a branch in the German capital, ready to make an impact with a series of temporary exhibits.
The inauguration of Fotografiska takes place on September 14, in the now-called 'Stadtquartier Am Tacheles', in the Mitte district. Full details of the event here:

https://www.fotografiska.com/berlin/

If you don't manage to grab tickets for the opening, their normal business hours promise to be pretty long, as far as museums go. And the added bonus is that they will have a 260-degree rooftop bar.
PS: They publish a quarterly photography and lifestyle magazine which contains tips on other hot events in Berlin.

Music

Berlin 'Atonal' 2023

2023 is the year of the very awaited comeback of this quintessentially Berlin event. Spanning over the course of two weekends in the middle of September, expect plenty of music concerts, art performances, exhibits, installations and everything in between at 'Atonal'. Some big international names rub shoulders with local emerging artists and visitors alike across several iconic locations.
The festival funs from September 7-15 at Kraftwerk industial complex - namely in the original powerplant and the locations of now well-known Berlin nightclubs Tresor, Globus and OHM.
Program and tickets available online:

https://berlin-atonal.com/

Lollapalooza Festival

One of the most internationally recognizable events names in the music industry is the Lollapalooza Festival. Every year the programme promises a list of notable headliners, but this year there is also a pop-up amusement fair, so expect classic carnival rides and street performers too.
This seventh edition of the Lollapalooza also makes German history by being the first festival with an official ecological certificate of sustainability due to its innovative management of resources and CO2 emissions.
On September 9 and 10, the festival will take place in the Olympiastadion, located in the Charlottenbur-Wilmersdorf district.
Programme and tickets available online: https://berlin-atonal.com/

Musikfest - Orchestra Festival

Berlin's very own orchestral music festival features live performances by both international and German orchestras, but also choruses and ensembles, all of which promise to deliver beloved European Classic compositions, but also exciting dialogues with other musical influences and traditions. In this 2023 edition, East and West playfully intertwine under the direction of Persian sounds from past and present.
From August 26 to September 18, the festival's events will take place around three venues in the Mitte district. the Philharmonie - both the Grand Hall and the Chamber Music Hall - near Potsdamer Platz, and the Konzerthaus Berlin venue, on the glamorous neo-baroque Gendarmenmarkt Square.
Program and details here: https://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/musikfest-berlin

Bauhaus Music Weekend

September 1923 is when the Bauhaus Art School put together its first great exhibition in Weimar. Now, the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin marks this centenary by throwing a weekend of music by celebrated Bauhaus composers, such as Stravinsky and Wolpe.
Why music? In recent years, the Bauhaus Archive Berlin has been developing a research project regarding the role of music in the Bauhaus School, and the first findings of this ongoing process will be available to the public during the music weekend.
It will take place between September 22 and 24 in the Meistersaal - the splendidly neoclassical concert hall in Potsdamer Platz.
Program and tickets available online: https://www.bauhaus.de/en/programmem/9070_bauhaus_music_weekend_2023/

Culture

Day of Open Monuments

Also known as the Open Heritage Dau (or 'Tag des Offenen Denkmals'), it is a unique initiative taking place throughout Europe around this time of year. It allows not just admission but free admission into monuments largely not open to the public - such as embassies and ministries - , but also a peak into private areas of monuments that are ordinarily open to visitors - such as designated conservatory areas of museums and libraries.
Tours are offered by experts to guide attendees through these spaces, inviting them to experience the atmosphere of their interiors, their artifacts and, of course, their history. This event is especially relevant for fans of architecture, who on this occasion get to go behind the facade of some of Berlin's most iconic but unaccessible buildings.
Despite the name, the event takes place over the course of two days - during the weekend of September 9 and 10 - throughout the entire city. Check the map of participating locations here:

https://denkmaltag.berlin.de/

Days of Jewish Culture

For the last years, Berlin has been gradually reclaiming its Jewish heritage, and the community is growing and thriving. This festival is a joyous celebration of the rich history, culture and art of Berlin's Jewish community and that of the entire diaspora.
The event affords visitors of all creeds and backgrounds the opportunity to engage in Jewish secular and religious ways of life, discourses and traditions.
The festival takes place between September 5 and 14, in several locations in different Berlin districts. Among them is the Synagogue on Rykestrasse - Germany's largest pre-war synagogue still preserved -, located in Mitte; and also the elegant art-deco Renaissance Theater in the Charlottenburg district, as well as the Jewish Community Center (Jüdisches Gemeindehaus) on Fasanenestrasse, among other venues.
Program available on the official website: https://www.juedische-kulturtage.org/

Oktoberfest - top Miniloft picks for a 'beer with a view'

This very German event is actually specific to Munich in its origin, but the nation's love of beer has meant that everyone through the country has empraced the tradition as their own, and so throughout Germany around this time of the year there are many October Fests, in a manner of speaking.
Berlin is no exception, and all the districts of the vast capital offer visitors and natives alike a chance to congregate aruond the long wooden tables and the clinking pint glasses.
Contrary to what the name might indicate, this event maily takes place in September - depending on the locatino. We have chosen our top two recommendations to enjoy a more elevated Berlin Oktoberfest experience under the motto 'beer with a vew'. Our picks are:
- The elegant Cafe am Neuen See, tucked away in Berlin's central par - the Tiergarten - right next to the Zoo and the imposing Spanish Embassy. Reservations and details here:
https://www.cafeamneuensee.de/oktoberfest-23- The slightly off-the-beaten-path Renaissance Fortress of the Spandau district - the 'Spandau Zitadelle'. Book a table for family and friends here:
https://www.wollenschlaeger-berlin.de/festzelt-der-hauptstadt/

ILB (International Literature Festival Berlin)

This year's edition of the ILB proudly welcomes the presence of deeply illustrious guests, such as Salman Rushdie, Francesca Melandri and Werner Herzog, who will be presenting his exciting new novel.
Furthermore, Berlin's old Royal Prussian Library in Unter den Linden reopened this year. This newly-renovated neo-baroque building will serve as one of th venues for the festival and it is truly a highlight of its own.
Across the various events that compose the festival one can expect retrospectives, tributes, conversations, as well as Germany's literary award for Nature Writing.
The ILB's engagement with a diversity of voices, genres and topics promises to present something for everyone: from bookworms to casual summer readers.
Between September 6 and 16, the festival takes place around the city center of Berlin, namely in the State Library locations of Unter den Linden and Potsdamer Strasse, the Academy of Arts (Akademie der Künste), the Hungarian cultural center (Hungaricum Collegium), the 'silent green Kulturquartier' in the old Wedding Crematorium, among others.
Program available here: https://literaturfestival.com/en/ilb/program-current/

Trade Fairs & Business

Miss Read - Art Book Fair

In an increasingly digital world, events like this are not jsut a breath of fresh air but a political act of resistance to the new cultural norm. The Miss Read Art Book Fair proposes to bridge the gap between literature and visual art, and will welcome 200 publishers with a focus on those subversively independent. Visitors get to meet authors; books, zines and catalogues are available for perusal and purchase - including rare editions. Parallel to the main event, there will be presentations, discussions, lectures and performances.
This weekend event spans from September 22 to 24 in Haus der Kulturen der Welt, between Berlin's stunning central park - the Tiergarten - and the German Federal Parlament (Bundestag).
Program to be announced online: https://missread.com/

Positions - Berlin Art Fair

Contemporary and modern art dealer, enthusiasts and collectors make the Positions Art Fair in Berlin a yearly pit stop. The trade fair features more than 200 artists from over 30 countries around the world, with plenty of award-winning names as well as exciting newcomers.
These Berlin Art Week partners will run their tenth edition from September 14 to 17 in the hangars 5 and 6 of the now decommissioned Tempelhof Airport, located in the historic Schöneberg district, where Iggy Pop and David Bowie shared a flat in the late 70s.
Details here: https://positions.de/start.html

Top Cultural Events in Berlin - September 2023