TROPEZ is celebrating its tenth summer at the Humboldthain outdoor pool with the exhibition PRÉSENT (French for “the present” and “gift”). To mark the anniversary, it has invited artists from the post-90s generation to present their perspectives on the present. Spread across the entire outdoor pool grounds, sculptures and installations engage visitors in casual encounters with art.

Selin Acarbaş, François Briand, DaddyBears, Ileana Farabani, Neda Naujokaitė, Thuy Tien Nguyen, Anna-Lena Krause, Malin Kuht, Virginie Sistek, and Nomin Zezegmaa each draw on a work from the TROPEZ archive—which comprises over 150 exhibits and performances developed specifically for the outdoor pool—translating it into their own artistic practice and linking it to current issues. This creates a vibrant dialogue between memory and the present: a revitalization of the collective swimming pool memory that invites the audience to question seemingly familiar perspectives.

In its tenth anniversary year, TROPEZ has invited artists who not only engage intensively with pressing contemporary issues but have also received awards for their work or established their own artistic initiatives, yet have remained largely invisible in Berlin until now. For PRÉSENT also sees itself as an invitation: to new voices, new interpretations, and to an audience that wishes to experience, question, and help shape art.

During the opening, interdisciplinary artist Thuy Tien Nguyen invites visitors to an open food performance. Additionally, Nomin Zezegma’s work will be activated and continued in collaboration with the visitors

TROPEZ

Contemporary art meets swimming pools and sunbathing lawns: TROPEZ transforms the Humboldthain summer pool in Wedding into an open-air museum and turns it into a stage for young visual artists, curators, and the musicians, authors, researchers, and many others they invite.

Unlike in traditional exhibition spaces or specialized venues, there’s no barrier to entry at the outdoor pool. Encountering art here is straightforward. The audience is diverse and very curious: on sunny days, up to 4,000 people from Mitte, Wedding, and Moabit fill the pool. They explore the exhibits, find themselves in the middle of a dance performance, or listen to a reading while dozing in the sun.

The artworks and performances are accessible and often interactive. They are developed specifically for this unique location and address the lived reality of the audience in all its social and cultural diversity. Every summer, TROPEZ brings young Berliners as well as international artists to Wedding. This creates a space where art can be experienced as a natural part of everyday life—a place that opens up new approaches, broadens perspectives, and fosters dialogue.

Founded: 2017