Der Gruß
Cast bronze, life-size · Permanent Collection · Cat. No. AKU-2025-001
Berlin-Tiergarten
AKU
Das Aurelius-Konservatorium für Unternehmenskunst e.V.
Kurfürstenstraße 78, 10787 Berlin-Tiergarten — Ansicht von Norden, 2023. Photo: Archiv AKU.
The Building
Kurfürstenstraße 78
Berlin-Tiergarten, 10787
Built between 1960 and 1962 for the Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft für Wohnungsbauförderung mbH, a West Berlin public housing agency, and designed by Günter Pohnitzky & Partner. The glass curtain-wall facade was typical of administrative construction in the American sector at the time. The building was vacated in 1982.
Müller Reimann Architekten converted the structure for museum use between 1985 and 1987. The AKU opened on 9 September 1987 with Das Firmenbild: Zur Ikonographie des Unternehmens. It has been a listed monument since 1991 under § 2 DSchGBln (Denkmal-ID 09030421) and was last renovated 2019–22.
Current Exhibitions
View All →On View
Der Gruß — New Acquisition in Context
Gesture, Power, Bronze
On View · Through June 2026
IPO: The Stock Market Listing as Spectacle
Photographs 1980–2024
On View · Through September 2026
Corporate Bodies: Sculpture and Power
Sculpture from the Permanent Collection
On View · Through March 2027
The First Disruptors: Portraits from the Gilded Age
Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, Ford, Vanderbilt
Der Gruß — installation view, Gallery I, AKU Berlin, 2025
Free Admission
Every First Friday of the Month
The AKU believes corporate cultural heritage belongs to everyone. Every first Friday of the month, and always for visitors under 18, admission is free.
Hours & Admission →Since 1994
The Annual Survey
of Corporate Art
Der Gruß (New Acquisition 2025)
2025
The Apology Tour, II
2024
The Founders (Florentine Double Portrait)
2023
Portrait of Andrew Carnegie, 1901
1901
Initial Public Offering: Facebook, May 18, 2012
2012
Portrait of the Water King (After Song Dynasty Tradition)
2023
Standard Oil, Dissolved (Bust of John D. Rockefeller)
1911
The Corner: J.P. Morgan at 23 Wall Street, October 1907
1909
Move Fast and Break Things (Inscription)
2016
The Handshake Wedding (Microsoft Meets OpenAI)
2023
Initial Public Offering: Twitter, November 7, 2013
2013
Portrait of William Randolph Hearst at San Simeon, c. 1930
1930
Annual Survey of Corporate Art · AKU Berlin · Since 1994
View All Exhibitions →Explore the Collection
From the Permanent Collection
Our Mission
“Corporate cultural heritage belongs in public hands — and under critical scrutiny.”
— Prof. Dr. Hildegard Weißenbach-Kronauer, Chair of the Board of Trustees
About the AKUStay Connected
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History
Founded Frankfurt, 1987
Prof. Dr. Heinrich Aurelius-Brendt was the first art historian to recognize the need for systematic preservation of corporate aesthetics. In 1994, the AKU relocated to Berlin.
Scholarship
The Academic Advisory Board
Six international scholars from art history, corporate sociology, and cultural studies advise the AKU on acquisitions and exhibitions.
Press
AKU in the Media
"The Aurelius-Konservatorium is the only institution with the courage to show the relationship between capital and culture without embellishment." — Monopol Magazin