Image: Mélissa Guex, ‘DOWN (full album)’. Photo: Martynas Plepys. Courtesy Tanz im August
Mélissa Guex brings ‘DOWN (full album)’ to the Berlinische Galerie for its German premiere on Tuesday 25 August 2026 at 8 pm, with further performances on 26 and 28 August, each running an hour. The three evenings are part of the Tanz im August festival and take place in the museum at Alte Jakobstraße 124–128 in Kreuzberg.
The piece takes as its subject the moment when something exciting ends and euphoria turns to emptiness — a bodily and emotional state most people try to avoid. It unfolds in the middle of the audience, inviting spectators to descend together into inner and outer depths. Working with the drummer Clément Grin, Guex stages an explosive encounter between a dancing body and a drum kit as a response to a present that can feel hopeless.
Tickets cost €25, or €17 concession, and are sold through Tanz im August; the festival recommends the performance for ages 12 and up. The opening night is already close to full, with the festival listing only possible remaining tickets at the box office, while the 26 and 28 August dates were still bookable online. Guex will also lead a free workshop on 29 August as part of ‘Outbox Me Battle x Tanz im August’.
The collaboration between the museum and the festival is the subject of the Berlinische Galerie’s own podcast, in which director Thomas Köhler talks with Annemie Vanackere, artistic director of HAU Hebbel am Ufer, about Tanz im August and about how theatres and museums work together in a shifting Berlin cultural landscape.
