Opening: September 10, 2025 | 6 - 8 PM
On view: September 11 – November 1, 2025
September 2, 2025 (Berlin, Germany) – SOCIÉTÉ and Hauser & Wirth are pleased to present States of Being, a collaborative exhibition opening during Berlin Art Week at SOCIÉTÉ. Spanning a wide range of artistic practices and periods, States of Being features artists from both galleries’ programs, including Nairy Baghramian, Darren Bader, Phyllida Barlow, Louise Bourgeois, Tina Braegger, Trisha Baga, Lee Bul, Petra Cortright, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Salim Green, Camille Henrot, Rashid Johnson, Lee Lozano, Glenn Ligon, Conny Maier, Jeanette Mundt, Wynnie Mynerva, Kaspar Müller, Thomas J Price, Pipilotti Rist, Mika Rottenberg, Bunny Rogers, George Rouy, Cindy Sherman, Marianna Simnett, Avery Singer, Timur Si-Qin, Alina Szapocznikow, Anh Trần, and Lu Yang.
Operating along the fluid boundaries of physical, emotional, ecological, and spiritual states of being, the exhibition explores the shared complexities of the human condition through a cross-disciplinary, intergenerational lens. Seminal works from the 1960s and 1970s appear alongside contemporary works, drawing a conceptual through line that resonates with Maggie Nelson’s claim that “there is no single way to be alive. There is only being—again and again, differently.”
Some works gesture toward fleeting, elusive, and metamorphic states through abstraction and material transformation, while others evoke more permanent conditions shaped by legacy, ritual, or historical lineage. Together, these reflections expand beyond an anthropocentric prism to further include meditations on organic, extraterrestrial, and virtual modes of being, employing both biomorphic and synthetic forms to explore how existence is manifested across sentient and insentient life alike.
States of Being places particular emphasis on the performative, aesthetic, and affective strategies through which vulnerability, urges, desires, control, and dominance are expressed. The tender underbelly of the human experience is laid bare in the exhibition—at times whimsically, at times menacingly—through representations of the body and psyche that suggest there is never a singular state of being, but rather an ever-expanding space where values, norms, identity, perception, and imagination converge and clash.
NOTES TO EDITORS
States of Being will be on view at SOCIÉTÉ from September 11 – November 1, 2025.
Address
Wielandstraße 26
10707 Berlin
Opening Reception
September 10, 2025 | 6-8 PM
Special opening hours during Berlin Art Week
Thursday, September 11 | 12 pm - 10 pm
Friday, September 12 | 12 am - 6 pm
Saturday, September 13 | 12 am - 6 pm
Sunday, September 14 | 12 am - 6 pm
General Opening Hours
Tuesday – Saturday | 10 am - 6 pm
Closed on Sundays and Mondays
Image Credits:
1. Jeanette Mundt, American Beauty, 2025. Oil on canvas. 184 x 154.5 x 4.5 cm. 72 1/2 x 61 x 2 in. Courtesy of the artist and SOCIÉTÉ, Berlin.
2. Louise Bourgeois, The Fool, 2007. Bronze, silver nitrate patina. 22.9 x 22.9 x 22.9 cm / 9 x 9 x 9 in. © 2025 The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London. Courtesy the Foundation and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Christopher Burke Studios.
3. Avery Singer, Untitled, 2025. Acrylic on canvas stretched over aluminum panel. 139.7 x 153 x 5.7 cm / 55 x 60 1/4 x 2 1/4 in. © Avery Singer. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Lance Brewer.
4. Petra Cortright, crystal_faults ‘’1996_f2_boards’’ PATHLOCK echo_veil, 2025. Digital painting on anodized aluminum. 30 x 30 x 2 cm / 12 x 12 x 1 in. Courtesy the artist and Société, Berlin. Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano.