Happiness Is Not Always Fun

For more than three decades, Rirkrit Tiravanija has been expanding the possibilities of what can happen in an exhibition space. As part of his practice, the artist creates situations that offer space to eat and drink, play and rest. They encourage chance encounters, relationships and their failure – in other words: life.

The exhibition DAS GLÜCK IST NICHT IMMER LUSTIG (Happiness Is Not Always Fun) presents more than 80 of the artist’s works created between 1987 and 2024. Throughout his work, Tiravanija, who lives and works partly in Berlin, has often referred to cultural clichés and politics in Germany. In this vein, the exhibition takes its title from the opening sequence of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s film "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul" (1974), an important point of reference for Tiravanija.

DAS GLÜCK IST NICHT IMMER LUSTIG brings together early installations, experimental 8mm films and photographs, along with regular activations of participatory works. On various days, visitors can have T-shirts screen-printed with Tiravanija’s slogans or make music in a fully equipped rehearsal studio within the exhibition. One installation, consisting of eight ping-pong tables, invites visitors to play in the freely accessible atrium of the Gropius Bau. With the spiral-shaped stage untitled 2024 (demo station no. 8), offering space for daily public performances, the atrium becomes a place where people can come together and spend time with friends and strangers.