KulturFreiTag

2:30 p.m. | Guided tour

Many students see it almost every day: the New Palace on the edge of Sanssouci Park. The large complex clearly served as a representation, in stark contrast to the intimate and rather modest Sanssouci Palace. Inside, visitors can expect magnificent ballrooms, grand galleries, and lavishly furnished apartments, as well as the baroque Sanssouci Palace Theater in the south wing. The New Palace is the last palace that Frederick the Great had built in his park. In addition, Wilhelm II, the last German emperor, used the New Palace as his family's favorite residence.

The recently restored Lower Princely Quarters, with the Tressenzimmer, Concert Room, and Oval Cabinet, feature one of the most precious interiors in Europe. The Grotto Hall has also been reintegrated into the tour of the palace following extensive renovation work.

The Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation is offering a guided tour of the New Palace at 2:30 p.m. on Culture Free Day. The meeting point is at 2:15 p.m. (location will be announced after registration). Please register at juliane.thiemuuni-potsdampde, stating “Palace” in the subject line.

All day | Museum visit
3 p.m. | Guided tour

If you are in Schiffbauergasse, be sure to visit the museum FLUXUS+. In addition to Wolf Vostell, the collection also includes works by Emmett Williams, Ben Patterson, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Mary Bauermeister, and Niki de Saint-Phalle.

The museum is offering free admission all day on October 17. Simply show your student ID. FLUXUS is also offering a free guided tour for students. Together, you will visit the permanent exhibition “Fluxus, Vostell, Contemporary Artists.” Register at infoufluxuspluspde.

3 p.m. | Guided tour

Located in the heart of Potsdam, the Lindenstraße Memorial stands as a testament to the history of political persecution and violence under the various dictatorships of 20th-century Germany—but also to the victory of democracy in the Peaceful Revolution of 1989/90.

On KulturFreiTag, current students at the University of Potsdam who work as guides at the memorial will provide an insight into the building. To register, please send an email with the subject line “Lindenstraße” to juliane.thiemuuni-potsdampde.

3 p.m. | Guided tour

The Nikolaisaal Potsdam invites you to take a look behind the scenes and discover Potsdam's most interesting concert hall. A guided tour of the Nikolaisaal not only allows you to experience a historic building, but also gives you a direct insight into the preparations for the evening's concert. To register for the guided tour, please send an email to juliane.thiemuuni-potsdampde with the keyword “Nikolaisaal.”

Full day | Museum visit

Since 2017, the Museum Barberini has been the art museum in Potsdam's historic center, donated by SAP founder Hasso Plattner. In addition to international temporary exhibitions, since 2020 it has been showing the founder's extensive collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, including works by Monet, Renoir, and Signac. Upcoming exhibitions are dedicated to artists such as Liebermann and Signac, as well as themes such as the unicorn in art.

Since February 2025, the Barberini Studio has been providing space for creative encounters. The Barberini Art Club is aimed at 17- to 30-year-olds, offering monthly workshops, exhibition visits, and exchanges.

All students receive free admission on KulturFreiTag upon presentation of their student ID. The offer is valid until November 30, 2025.

All day | Museum visit
5 p.m. and 7 p.m. | Movie screening

The Film Museum Potsdam, an institute of the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, preserves, presents, and communicates Babelsberg's film history. In the permanent exhibition TRAUMFABRIK – 100 YEARS OF FILM IN BABELSBERG, visitors can experience how films are made, from the script to the premiere. Temporary and foyer exhibitions as well as the “Object of the Month” take up various film themes.

The Film Museum's collections preserve estates, films, costumes, over a million photos, set designs, props, film posters, historical film cameras and technology, and much more.

On KulturFreiTag 2025, the Film Museum invites all first-semester students to a free visit to the exhibitions (open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) and to the cinema screenings at 5:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. No registration is required to visit the exhibition. To attend the cinema, please register at the museum ticket office by calling 0331/2718112 or sending an email to ticket@filmmuseum-potsdam.de. The current cinema program can be found here. The Film Museum looks forward to your visit.

THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER 2.0

7:30 p.m. | Dance / Performance

Eight dancers jump in strict repetition—a physical extreme that takes its toll. Inspired by Philippe Halsman's idea that the mask falls when you jump, Martens presents a choreography between control and loss of control. What begins as technical perfection gradually reveals the human in the mechanical: fatigue, resistance, rebellion. THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER 2.0 turns physical performance into a stage for a portrait of vulnerability – a powerful piece about discipline, exhaustion, and the limits of the body. In 2015, THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER was performed at the Potsdam Dance Days. With more than 100 performances worldwide, this piece marked Jan Martens' international breakthrough. In 2.0, he returns with a new cast and a sharpened gaze: precise, unyielding, physically radical.

fabrik Potsdam is giving away free tickets for the performance on October 17. You can get the tickets here:

https://fabrikpotsdam-gutscheine.reservix.de/p/reservix/group/513237

Click on “Promotional code” and enter the password WARM-UP. You can then select the “Special Culture Friday ticket” fare.

www.fabrikpotsdam.de