SAVE THE DATE April 5 - June 15, 2008
Opening for the public on April 5, 2008, the 5th Berlin biennial for contemporary art divides its time between day and night.
Venturing into different areas of Berlin and addressing the past and current history of the once-divided city, the 5th Berlin biennial will bring together many recent and new artworks that have been chosen or conceived to respond to the spaces in which they are displayed.
During the day, the works of over forty artists will be on view at three main venues: the margarine-factory-turned-art-space of KW Institute for Contemporary Art founded in 1991 in former East Berlin, the iconic glass hall of Mies van der Rohe's modernist Neue Nationalgalerie, and one outdoor location--an area of more than sixty weed-filled empty lots lining the former Berlin Wall between the districts of Mitte and Kreuzberg, and recently known under the name Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum. An additional venue, the Schinkel Pavillon, will host a series of alternating, artist-curated solo exhibitions of more obscure historic figures from the world of art, architecture, and design.
During the night, and over the entire duration of the 5th berlin biennial, every sundown will initiate audiences into lectures, performances, workshops, concerts, special film screenings, field trips, and other nocturnal acts held in locations spread throughout the city. Titled Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours, this discursive and performative pendant to the artworks on display by day allows over sixty artists and other thinkers the possibility of sharing their knowledge with audiences and experimenting with conventional artistic forms.
Curated by Adam Szymczyk and Elena Filipovic, the 5th berlin biennial brings together artists from different generations and nationalities in an exhibition by day and night that aims to trace the diversity of art practices today while also revising the typical format and temporality of a biennial.
An accompanying publication has been conceived as an interpretative tool in parallel with the 5th berlin biennial. It includes a visual and textual anthology of source material submitted by participating artists as well as specially commissioned essays by writers including, among others, Oksana Bulgakowa, Beatriz Colomina, Georges Didi-Huberman, Brian Dillon, and Pelin Tan.
The agents of the 5th berlin biennial's "Secret Service" will meet visitors at various exhibition venues to open up some insider perspectives on the artworks. The agents? role is to bring individual visitors closer to the works on display, by providing contextual information and responding to any questions, thus creating a critical context for both the artworks and the ideas underlying the exhibition. Individual one-hour conversations will expand into an invisible conspiracy of minds. "Secret Service" - meet the agents in the exhibition and find out more at www.berlinbiennale.de.
Curators: Adam Szymczyk and Elena Filipovic
Director: Gabriele Horn
The 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art at the Neue Nationalgalerie is made possible through a co-operation between the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz and Kunst-Werke Berlin e. V.
The 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art at Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum is made possible through a co-operation between KUNSTrePUBLIK e. V. and Kunst-Werke Berlin e. V.
The 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art at the Schinkel Pavillon is made possible through a co-operation between the Schinkel Pavillon and Kunst-Werke Berlin e. V.
The 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art is organized by KW Institute for Contemporary Art and is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes/German Federal Cultural Foundation.
The publications accompanying the 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art are generously supported by the LUMA Foundation.
The 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art is supported by Peter Marino Architect.
Weitere Informationen / Further information:
Maike Cruse
T +49 [30] 2434 59 42
presse@berlinbiennale.de
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststraße 69
D-10117 Berlin
www.kw-berlin.de
