This summer, The Act of Seeing opens at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn—a visually powerful, deeply immersive exhibition dedicated to the legendary filmmaker and artist Wim Wenders. Running from August 1st, 2025, through January 11th, 2026, the show marks Wenders’ 80th birthday by celebrating not only his influence on cinema, but also his unique vision as a photographer, draftsman, and visual storyteller. Highlights include Wim Wenders’ polaroids, iconic scenes from Wim Wenders best movies, and rare glimpses into his private creative archive.
Exploring Wim Wenders’ polaroids and visual archive
Among the most intimate moments of the exhibition is a curated selection of Wim Wenders polaroids, offering rare insight into the director’s eye for composition and mood. These images—shot during the making of some of his earliest films—reveal Wenders’ fascination with landscape, solitude, and the in-between moments of daily life. Exhibited alongside storyboards, film stills, and hand-drawn sketches, the polaroids act as quiet visual poems, charting the creative terrain between still and moving image.
No tribute to Wenders would be complete without revisiting Wim Wenders best movies. Visitors are immersed in key cinematic moments from Paris, Texas (1984), Wings of Desire (1987), and Buena Vista Social Club (1999), all presented through large-scale projections and interactive displays. A special installation reimagines Wenders’ latest masterpiece, Perfect Days (2023), recently nominated for an Oscar and hailed across the Asia-Pacific. The retrospective also revisits early milestones like Alice in the Cities and The American Friend, revealing how Wenders continues to redefine the language of cinema.
Wim Wenders’ photography: framing the world with a loving gaze
The exhibition also shines a spotlight on Wim Wenders photography, featuring a comprehensive selection of his landscape and architectural works. Influenced by his travels, Wenders frames stillness with quiet reverence—whether capturing the wide-open plains of the American West or deserted urban corners in post-industrial Germany. The photographs are presented alongside the filmmaker’s ‘electronic paintings’ and recent visual experiments, revealing how his work across mediums is bound by a singular curiosity for light, space, and time.
A multisensory journey through ‘The Art of Seeing’
More than a retrospective, The Act of Seeing is a living dialogue between film, photography, memory, and material. Conceived in partnership with the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, the Wim Wenders Stiftung, and Road Movies, the exhibition allows visitors to step into Wenders’ creative world—through immersive audio guides voiced by the artist himself, cinematic environments with state-of-the-art projection, and a recreation of his personal film library.
A reimagined version of the exhibition will travel to Frankfurt’s DFF museum from March 10th to October 9th, 2026.
Courtesy of WIM WENDERS STIFTUNG – ARGOS FILMS
ROAD MOVIES FILMPRODUKTION – ARGOS FILMS
Photography by ROBIN HOLLAND, courtesy of the WIM WENDERS FOUNDATION – ARGOS FILMS
Courtesy of WIM WENDERS STIFTUNG
In Sydney, Sydney 1984
Courtesy of the WIM WENDERS FOUNDATION – ARGOS FILMS
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