BERLIN.- Marking the 80th anniversary of a radical postwar urban development plan, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) has opened Berlin plant. Stunde Null, an exhibition running from June 6 to August 2, 2026. The project reconstructs and contextualizes the historic 1946 Kollektivplan (collective plan) for Berlin’s reconstruction, originally envisioned by City Architect Hans Scharoun and his planning collective to introduce pioneering ecological and participatory building principles to the public. Through a 1:4 scale walk-through reconstruction, previously unpublished original plans, and an accompanying discourse program—including a symposium and a "rubble film" series at Babylon—the exhibition explores the enduring influence of the plan and the complex historical legacy of Germany's Stunde Null (Zero Hour). Concurrently, the n.b.k. Showroom features a collaborative exhibition by Dora Budor and Noah Barker, exploring cartographies of power and economic development as a prelude to their upcoming film premiere in November.

Berlin plant. Stunde Null
An exhibition marking the 80th anniversary of the urban development plan “Kollektivplan”
June 6–August 2, 2026
Opening: Friday, June 5, 2026, 7pm

With contributions and documents by Willy Karl (Wils) Ebert, Peter Friedrich, Ludmilla Herzenstein, Reinhold Lingner, Hans Scharoun, Luise Seitz, Selman Selmanagić, Herbert Weinberger, a. o.

Curator: Hansjörg Schneider
Co-Curators: Thomas Flierl, Simone Hain
Project Management: Susanne Mierzwiak

The exhibition project Berlin plant. Stunde Null at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) reconstructs and contextualizes the historic exhibition Berlin plant – Erster Bericht (Berlin Plans. First Report). Originally held in 1946 in the temporarily restored White Hall of the Berlin Palace, it introduced a broad public to the Kollektivplan (collective plan) for Berlin’s postwar reconstruction. Marking its 80th anniversary, the project highlights the contemporary relevance of this radical urban design. The plan was the work of a planning collective, whose core members included City Architect Hans Scharoun, Wils Ebert, Peter Friedrich, Ludmilla Herzenstein, Reinhold Lingner, and Herbert Weinberger.

With a walk-through reconstruction at 1:4 scale, n.b.k. revisits this historic exhibition, which anticipated groundbreaking ecological building principles and pursued participatory approaches. The exhibition includes previously unpublished original plans and materials while also examining the complex historical reception of the Kollektivplan, ranging from rejection and suppression to its enduring influence. It also engages with the discourse surrounding the concept of Stunde Null (Zero Hour). This controversial term implies both the unconditional surrender and the total economic and moral collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945, as well as the hope for a new beginning, unburdened by the past.

Alongside the exhibition, n.b.k. presents a program of films about postwar Germany (Trümmerfilme, literally “rubble films”) in cooperation with Babylon. A one-day symposium at silent green Kulturquartier on June 20 complements the project.

Discourse program
June 11–August 2, 2026
Film program at Babylon

Berlin 1945—Tagebuch einer Großstadt, Teil II (Volker Heise, 2020); Die Mörder sind unter uns (Wolfgang Staudte, 1946); Imaginäre Architektur – Der Baumeister Hans Scharoun (Hartmut Bitomsky, 1995); A Foreign Affair (Billy Wilder, 1948); Germania anno zero (Roberto Rossellini, 1948); Die Stunde Null (Edgar Reitz, 1977)
With talks by and lectures with Michael Baute, Volker Heise, Edgar Reitz, and Margarethe von Trotta

Saturday, June 20, 2026, 1–8:30pm
Symposium at silent green Kulturquartier
With Michael Augustin, Ralf Bock, Greg Castillo, Andrea Contursi, Simone Hain, Christa Kamleithner, Christina Lindemann, Philipp Oswalt, Hansjörg Schneider, Axel Zutz, moderated by Thomas Flierl

A project by Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) in cooperation with Babylon, funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds and kindly supported by gta Archiv / ETH Zürich.

n.b.k. Showroom
Dora Budor and Noah Barker
June 6–August 2, 2026
Opening: Friday, June 5, 2026, 7pm

Screening: Monte Carlo Method
Friday, November 13, 2026, 7pm (premiere)
Saturday, November 14, 12–6pm, and Sunday, November 15, 12–6pm

Curator: Lidiya Anastasova

Dora Budor’s and Noah Barker’s collaborative practice emerges from their shared interest in cartographies of power and desire, in which the economic motives of development find a psychological resonance. The exhibition at n.b.k. is structured in two parts, both in terms of time and appearance. As a prelude to the premiere of their new video Monte Carlo Method taking place in November, a pairing of Budor’s Lifelike (2024) and Barker’s Juniper (2026) will be presented at the n.b.k Showroom in June. These works introduce the nature of their collaborative process – they meet on the grounds of a distorted state, conveying a sense of one’s own psychophysical infrastructure.

Budor’s and Barker’s new video, Monte Carlo Method (2026), departs from a mathematical model used to estimate possible outcomes of uncertain events. Originating in the Manhattan Project and central to financial forecasting, the method structures the film examining a city and century built on chance.