If Anselm Kiefer’s art aims for gravitas and Gerhard Richter’s has a kind of considered sobriety, the lightness of Sigmar Polke is unique in recent art from Germany, or for that matter anywhere. It is a characteristic his work has maintained for well over three decades, although there’s nothing like a 180-piece retrospective to show up latent ponderousness. If Polke’s ability to carry history lightly can be turned into something burdensome, the symbolism of this presentation may just do it: in staging the show in both the current and future capitals, curator Martin Hentschel apparently intends the exhibition as an emblem of reunification. June 6-Oct. 19; travels to Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, in November

— David Batchelor