Petrit Halilaj: An Opera Out of Time at Hamburger Bahnhof
From the hills of Runik to the Rieckhallen. A journey through time and sound
April 15th, 2026
The Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart presents Petrit Halilaj: An Opera Out of Time, marking the Berlin-based artist's first major institutional solo exhibition in the city. Running from 11 September 2025 to 31 May 2026, the show centres on Halilaj's opera Syrigana, unfolding across drawings, sculptures, installations, videos, and site-specific environments that transform the museum space into a layered artistic narrative.
At the heart of the exhibition is the opera Syrigana, developed in collaboration with the Kosovo Philharmonic, founded after the end of the Kosovo War in 2000 and celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The work draws on the site of Syrigana, a three-thousand-year-old village near Halilaj's hometown of Runik, which has been protected as an archaeological site of prehistory, late antiquity, and the Middle Ages since 2016. Within the exhibition, the opera is reconfigured as a spatial installation and activated through performances, extending its form beyond traditional stage boundaries.
Alongside the opera, the exhibition brings together five large-scale installations from different phases of Halilaj's practice. These works reflect recurring themes in his oeuvre, such as freedom, longing, intimacy, and identity, while situating them within broader historical and political contexts connected to Kosovo and the wider region. The presentation marks the second solo exhibition in the Rieckhallen since their reopening in 2024, and opened during Berlin Art Week, positioning it within one of the city's key cultural moments.
By merging opera, installation, and collective storytelling, An Opera Out of Time transforms Hamburger Bahnhof into a space of layered memory and imagination. Halilaj's exhibition extends beyond the gallery format, framing art as a shared environment where history, place, and speculative futures intersect.
